The joy of welcoming a new babyโand sharing gorgeous photos on social mediaโturned sour for two mothers after another woman stole photos of their children from Instagram.
Kati Ringer, 21, has been banned from social media for stealing photos of babies from Instagram and claiming the children were sick or dead in order to make money.
As the BBC reports, Ringer copied the images from two separate accounts belonging to two mothers. Norwich Magistratesโ Court heard that Ringer woman became threatening and abusive when the women complained about their photos being shared.
Jane Walker, prosecuting, told the court that Ringer had sent one mother a โlaughing faceโ emoji on Instagram, and told her: โIโve already posted pictures saying sheโs dead, Iโve got ยฃ600 so farโ.
Walker added: โShe said the victim was a s**t mother, she hoped the little c**t died in its sleepโ.
The court heard that Ringer used images of the other motherโs prematurely born daughter, The Telegraph reports.
โShe was using the picture of the victimโs baby reporting to people that the baby was premature, that she was seriously ill, struggling to pay for her treatment and funeral,โ Ms Walker said.
โThe victim challenged the suspect and asked she stop using the images.
โIt was then that [Ms Ringer] said she would find out where the victim lived and kidnap and rape her daughter.โ
Ringer has been sentenced to a two-year criminal behaviour order that bans her from using social media and for asking any third party for a donation other than for a registered charity. She also received a suspended jail term of 30 weeks and was ordered to pay ยฃ225 cost ($380 AUD).
Ringer was first discovered by investigators when her IP address was traced to a computer at her motherโs house.