Asked by the Customer on 07-01-2015 10:42:14
Question posted in the General Law category relating to KwaZulu-Natal
Question posted in the General Law category relating to KwaZulu-Natal
A third party is in possession of naked photos of me and his ex wife and is threatening to expose them. What are my legal rights here?
Message from the Attorney
Posted by Att. Patrick on 07-01-2015 11:06:02
Hi there and thank you for your question,
In terms of section 14 of the South African Constitution, "everyone has the right to privacy", and in terms of section 11 "everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected".
You therefore have the right to tell the third party that he is not allowed to expose the pictures taken of you and his ex-wife. The crux here is that the pictures must have been taken of you and the ex-wife at a time (and in a place) where you expected it to be private. e.g. In a bedroom, or bathroom. If the pictures were taken of you naked in the road, then they could be released.
At any rate, I'm assuming that the pictures were taken indoors.
You should most certainly write a letter of demand to the third party, explaining that he is not entitled to release the pictures as it will infringe your right to privacy and dignity. You should explain that if the pictures are released, you will take legal advice on whether you have a claim against him for any harm/damage that you suffer. e.g. You are fired from work, or you lose clients.
Unfortunately the third party is most probably angry with you, and will try to put as much pressure on you as possible, and may release them anyway.
If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.
Att. Patrick
Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.
In terms of section 14 of the South African Constitution, "everyone has the right to privacy", and in terms of section 11 "everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected".
You therefore have the right to tell the third party that he is not allowed to expose the pictures taken of you and his ex-wife. The crux here is that the pictures must have been taken of you and the ex-wife at a time (and in a place) where you expected it to be private. e.g. In a bedroom, or bathroom. If the pictures were taken of you naked in the road, then they could be released.
At any rate, I'm assuming that the pictures were taken indoors.
You should most certainly write a letter of demand to the third party, explaining that he is not entitled to release the pictures as it will infringe your right to privacy and dignity. You should explain that if the pictures are released, you will take legal advice on whether you have a claim against him for any harm/damage that you suffer. e.g. You are fired from work, or you lose clients.
Unfortunately the third party is most probably angry with you, and will try to put as much pressure on you as possible, and may release them anyway.
If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.
Att. Patrick
Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.
If you would like to view the entire answer, you will need to either login or register a FREE account.