William Hamish Yeates, 20, of Netherby, was the first person in Australia to be charged under federal laws introduced in 2024 targeting deepfake pornography. He previously admitted to creating sexually explicit deepfake images of a teenage girl and sharing them on the online platforms Ero Me and X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2024 and 2025. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence and a count of using a carriage service to make personal data available.
Handing down her sentence in the District Court, Judge Anne Barnett said she accepted the offending was "associated with obsessional thinking rather than hostility, resentment or any suggestion of revenge". The court was told that a psychologist had diagnosed Yeates with autism spectrum disorder and compulsive sexual behaviour disorder. The court also heard he was heavily involved in online communities where it was common to post nude images of women and had been introduced online to Andrew Tate.
Judge Barnett said Yeates's youth and neurodevelopmental condition materially influenced the development of his offending and reduced his moral culpability to some extent. However, she said the absence of a malicious motive did not lessen the objective seriousness of the offending. "Your offending has tainted what were, and should be, happy memories for her," Judge Barnett said. "The first time she saw her Year 12 graduation photo was on a pornographic website."
The 19-year-old survivor previously told the court in a pre-sentence hearing that, although fake, the images had a "painfully real" impact. Judge Barnett noted the offending disproportionally targets women and girls and is capable of causing profound humiliation, distress and long-lasting harm.
Yeates was sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment but released immediately on a recognisance release order for a period of three years on the condition he be of good behaviour.