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'Masa' alleges he 'blindly' posted explicit video on FB

- said he did not know the contents of the video before he posted it on his Facebook page
Police officer of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF), Alston Butler’s testimony gave contradicting evidence against Ramoamasagana ‘Masa’ Pemberton, who claimed he did not know the video he posted on his Facebook page had strong sexual content. Photo: Facebook
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI- Police officer of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF), Alston Butler’s testimony gave contradicting evidence against Ramoamasagana ‘Masa’ Pemberton, who claimed he did not know the video he posted on his Facebook page had strong sexual content.

Mr Pemberton’s case was called at the Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, July 12, 2017 for obscene publication back in October 2015.

According to Pemberton’s police statement, a friend instructed him to post the video on Facebook back in 2015. The accused told the court that when he received that video, he was not able to see the contents on his cellular phone; however, he blindly posted the video on his social networking site.

Officer 'stumbled' upon video

Officer Alston Butler told the court that he saw the video on the accused Facebook page approximately four hours after it was posted and it was captioned ‘Sigh’, adding that he stumbled upon the video around 1:30 A.M. on October 1, 2015.

Mr Butler, who is also a technical expert for the RVIPF, also testified that Mr Pemberton would not have been able to post the video on Facebook if it was not first viewable on his cellular phone. He explained to the court that Facebook uses a ‘normal video-viewing software’ that is compatible across all smart devices.

“The file would have to be playable on the phone… If the file was corrupted or it is of an unusual file format, Facebook would not have accepted it,” the technical expert said.

87 likes, 100 shares and 197 comments

The witness testified that after viewing the X-rated video on Mr Pemberton’s Facebook page, other social media users shared the video a 100 times.

Thereafter, the video had generated 197 comments and it was liked by 87 persons. Following, he stated that he then took a screenshot of the video on the defendant’s Facebook page.

"As a police officer, if I see anything of interest, I report it immediately.”

Represented by Attorney Valerie Stephens-Gordon, she cross-examined that officer and questioned him on whether or not someone’s Facebook page can be hacked by another individual and possibly the video was posted by that individual.

In response, Mr Butler, pointed out that the video was posted on Mr Pemberton’s Facebook page, but he was not certain if it was actually posted by the accused.

Mr Pemberton chose to remain silent in the case against him.

Senior Magistrate Tamia N. Richards will deliver Mr Pemberton’s fate on September 12, 2017.

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