Man arrested for possessing fish porn
A British man has been arrested and sentenced for the highly unusual crime of possessing fish porn.
Nelson Nazare, 45, of St Neots, Cambridgeshire, was given four separate six-week suspended sentences for possessing on his cellular telephone a pornographic image involving a fish. Previously, Nazare had been charged with “harrassing his wife” and “possessing extreme images,” as “fish porn” is not technically a crime on the books in St Neots.
The broader fish porn case involves the slow dissolution of Nazare’s marriage, which, according to court documents, began this past May. Nazare tried to contact his wife several times over the summer–including two incidents, on the 5th and 25th of June, during which followed her home from work in his car. Following the June 25th incident, Nazare’s wife went to the police.
The police confiscated Nazare’s phone while investigating his wife’s harrassment claims. They found three “extreme images” on the phone: two were of people having sex with dogs (a common enough transgression), and the third was a photograph of a man having sex with “a large fish.”
The species of fish was not disclosed.
Nazare’s lawyer Ken Warboys said that the purpose of the photos had been misconstrued. His client was not a dirty, desperate man, Warboys argued; rather,
One of Mr Nazare’s friends, knowing how sad and upset he was, sent him three images in what seems to have been a misguided attempt at distracting and amusing him. There does not seem to be any content that Mr Nazare might find arousing. He believed he had deleted them all. He had not kept them for any purpose that might be of greater concern.
Rumors that Warboys was seen after the trial staring into his drink and questioning his choice of profession could not be substantiated.
Despite Warboys’ best efforts, Nazare was sentenced to a six-week jail sentence for each of the four charges against him; each sentence was suspended for twelve months. He was further ordered to pay compensation, victim surcharge, and criminal court charges of 315 British pounds, or approximately $460 US dollars.
Jimmy Page did not offer comment.
Fish porn.
(Photo credits: Fish porn one, two, three via Flickr)
