Karen Michelmore in Darwin | February 25, 2005
A JILTED computer technician has received a suspended sentence after hacking into his ex-lover's email account and deleting notes from her new boyfriend.
Craig Henry Griffis said he was simply snooping when he hacked into his ex-partner's email account in March 2003.The 39-year-old yesterday pleaded guilty to unlawfully accessing data held in a computer ahead of his trial, which had been due to start in the Northern Territory Supreme Court.
The court today heard Griffis had helped his former de facto of seven years originally set up the account.
He had kept in touch with the woman, who was only referred to as "J", and had hopes of a reconciliation but "wanted to check out her situation".
The court was told he hacked into her email account, where he found a series of personal emails between her and the new man in her life.
In a fit of "pure unadulterated spite", Griffis printed out the five emails and then deleted them, the court was told.
The woman had apparently been in the new relationship while she was still with Griffis.
Copies of the emails were later found during a police raid on Griffis's Darwin home.
Acting Justice Trevor Olssen said Griffis was trying to get his life back on track, and had since married a woman from Cambodia.
The charge carried a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
However, Acting Justice Olssen said the offending was at the lower end of the scale, and Griffis had shown remorse by pleading guilty.
He said the hacking had been a significant invasion of privacy, which had caused acute embarrassment and distress to the woman.
Acting Justice Olssen sentenced Griffis to five months' jail, fully suspended on the condition he did not get into further trouble in the next three years.