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High reported severity Criminal Charges

Adelaide: a law student who turned a teenage girl's school graduation photograph into sexually explicit deepfake images and videos shared across accounts on X, in Australia's first prosecution under the 2024 federal deepfake law, heard her victim impact statement at a pre-sentence hearing on 22 September 2026; she told the court the fake images had a 'painfully real' impact and that she first saw her real graduation photo on a pornography website beside the altered videos with her full name and school

William Hamish Yeates, then 18, of Netherby in Adelaide, created sexually explicit deepfake images and videos of a teenage girl with whom, his counsel said, he had developed an obsession (The Sun describes her as a former friend), using her school graduation photograph, and shared them across multiple accounts on X between October 2024 and February 2025. Appearing in court in February 2026 charged with eight counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent and 12 counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way, he became the first person in Australia prosecuted under the Commonwealth offence introduced in 2024 against adult deepfake pornography; in April 2026 he pleaded guilty to two counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent (October 2024 to February 2025) and two of the carriage-service offence, and the remaining counts were withdrawn. At a pre-sentence hearing in the South Australian District Court on 22 September 2026 the victim, now 19, told the court that the first time she saw her actual graduation picture was on a pornography website beside altered videos of her with her full name and school attached, that she feels sick whenever she sees the photo, that the discovery led to the darkest period of her life, and that although the images were fake their impact was painfully real. Yeates read an apology; his counsel cited diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and compulsive sexual behaviour disorder and asked for no custody; the Commonwealth prosecutor sought imprisonment. Sentencing is listed for 22 October 2026.

AI system
Unidentified image and video tool
Occurred
1 Oct 2024 to 28 Feb 2025
Reported
25 February 2026
Event location
Australia
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or AbusePsychological DistressReputational Harm
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Everyday life · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution established · 5 sources, 2 underlying accounts
10 claims: 4 corroborated, 6 reported. 6 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: AI image and video manipulation ('deepfake') software; the tools are not identified in the court reporting

What Happened

ABC News (25 February 2026) reported that Netherby resident William Hamish Yeates, 19, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court charged with eight counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent, a federal offence introduced in 2024 to combat deepfake pornography carrying a maximum of seven years, and 12 counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way; the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed it was the first prosecution of its type in South Australia, and a court order suppressing his identity was lifted. Court documents alleged that he, then 18, transmitted material on X and was responsible for creating it between 8 and 13 February 2025, and that he used two X accounts on 12 occasions between September 2024 and February 2025 in a way reasonable people would regard as menacing, harassing or offensive in relation to the alleged victim. ABC (15 April 2026) reported his guilty pleas to two counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent between October 2024 and February 2025 and two counts of the carriage-service offence; he had initially been charged with 20 offences, which the CDPP withdrew in lieu of the pleas. At the pre-sentence hearing on 22 September 2026 (ABC; AAP), the victim, supported by more than a dozen family members and friends, said the images of her were fake but their impact was painfully real; that the first time she saw her actual graduation picture was on a pornography website beside altered videos of her with her full name and school attached; that every time she sees the photo she feels sick; that the discovery was the darkest period of her life; and that she would not let it define her. AAP added that she said her face, identity and image were never his to take, that she was not his to expose, alter, sexualise, stalk or dehumanise, and that she will heal. The Sun additionally quotes her saying the body in the images was not hers but he had made her hate her body; that line is not in the ABC or AAP reports. Yeates read an apology saying the harm he caused was unintended and that his actions were repulsive and would plague his mind for as long as he breathes. His barrister, Jane Powell SC, told the court a psychologist had diagnosed autism spectrum disorder and a report mentioned compulsive sexual behaviour disorder, that he had developed an obsession with the victim, that he had engaged in communities on X where posting nude images of women was common and had been introduced online to Andrew Tate, and asked that he not be imprisoned. The Commonwealth prosecutor said a term of imprisonment was the only appropriate sentence for extremely insidious, prolific and growing online offending, that he wanted to degrade and humiliate the victim, and that the material will be online in perpetuity. AAP reported that Judge Anne Barnett will sentence him on 22 October; the ABC said next month. The Sun (UK) carried the same hearing with the same quotations, describing him as a second-year University of Adelaide law student who had become infatuated with the girl.

Reported harm

A teenage girl was depicted in sexually explicit deepfake images and videos made from her graduation photograph and posted across accounts on X and, with her full name and school attached, on a pornography website; in court she described lasting distress (feeling sick at her own graduation photo; the darkest period of her life) and the prosecutor said the material will remain online. The offender's guilty pleas establish that he made and shared the material; the harms are the victim's own account given in court.

Outcome

Pending

Appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on 25 February 2026 charged with eight counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent (a Commonwealth offence introduced in 2024 against adult deepfake pornography, with a seven-year maximum) and 12 counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way); a suppression order on his identity was lifted. On 15 April 2026 he pleaded guilty to two counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent (October 2024 to February 2025) and two counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way; the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew the other counts and confirmed the case was the only prosecution of its type it was running. Pre-sentence hearing in the South Australian District Court on 22 September 2026: victim impact statement read; apology read by the defendant; defence sought a non-custodial sentence citing autism spectrum disorder, compulsive sexual behaviour disorder and persistent adjustment disorder; the prosecutor argued that only imprisonment was appropriate and that the material will remain online in perpetuity. Judge Anne Barnett is to sentence him on 22 October 2026 (AAP; ABC says October).

What remains unknown

  • The software used to make the images and videos.
  • The victim's exact age at the time of the offending (a teenage girl finishing school; now 19).
  • The sentence, due on 22 October 2026.
  • Whether the material has been removed from the pornography website and X (the prosecutor said it will remain online).
  • Whether the two X accounts were his own or anonymous.
  • The date he was charged (the 25 February 2026 report covers a court appearance, not the charging).

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The offence to which he pleaded guilty is creating or altering sexual material without consent under the Commonwealth deepfake provisions; ABC and AAP describe the material as sexually explicit deepfake images and videos made from her graduation photograph. The software used is not identified.

10 claims: 4 corroborated, 6 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported On 25 February 2026 William Hamish Yeates, 19, of Netherby, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court charged with eight counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent, a Commonwealth offence introduced in 2024 against deepfake pornography, and 12 counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way; the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions said it was the first prosecution of its type in South Australia and a suppression order on his identity was lifted.

Causal attribution. Court reporting by the ABC of the charges as read in court.

  • abc.net.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'Netherby resident William Hamish Yeates, 19, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with eight counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent'; 'The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed the case was the first prosecution of its type in SA.'; 'is also facing 12 counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way, a charge that carries a maximum prison term of five years'
Corroborated On 15 April 2026 he pleaded guilty to two counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent between October 2024 and February 2025 and two counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way, and he is the first person prosecuted in Australia under the 2024 federal deepfake law.

Causal attribution. Guilty pleas recorded in court and reported by two independent court reporters.

  • abc.net.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'pleaded guilty to two counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent between October 2024 and February 2025.'; 'Yeates also pleaded guilty to two counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way.'; 'The first person in Australia to be charged under new deepfake laws has admitted his guilt'
  • easternriverinachronicle.com.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'He pleaded guilty in April to two counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent between October 2024 and February 2025, and two counts of using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way.'; 'William Hamish Yeates, now aged 20, is the first person to be prosecuted under federal laws introduced in 2024 to combat adult deepfake pornography.'
  • abc.net.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'The 20-year-old was the first person in Australia to be charged under federal laws introduced in 2024 to combat the rise of deepfake pornography.'
Corroborated The offending involved creating sexually explicit deepfake images and videos of the victim from her graduation photograph and sharing them across accounts on X; she told the court the first time she saw her actual graduation picture was on a pornography website.

Causal attribution. The pleas establish that he created and shared the material; the X accounts are in the court documents reported by ABC in February and in AAP's account; the pornography-website detail is the victim's statement to the court, reported by both outlets.

  • abc.net.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'The offending, which occurred between October 2024 and February 2025, involved the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images and videos of his victim that he shared online.'; 'The first time I saw my actual graduation picture was on a pornography website'
  • easternriverinachronicle.com.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'The material was distributed across multiple accounts on the social media platform, X.'; 'The first time I saw my actual graduation photo was on a pornographic website'; 'confronted the man behind doctoring her graduation photo'
  • abc.net.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'on the social media platform X and that he was'; 'used two different X accounts on 12 occasions between September 2024 and February 2025'
Corroborated In her victim impact statement she said the images were fake but their impact was painfully real, that she feels sick every time she sees her graduation photo, and that she would not let it define her or dictate her world.

Causal attribution. The victim's own statement to the court, quoted by both court reporters.

  • abc.net.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'these images of me were fake but the impact they had is painfully real.'; 'Every time I now see that photo, I feel sick.'; 'of her life but said she would not let it define her.'
  • easternriverinachronicle.com.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'These images of me were fake, but the impact they had is painfully real.'; 'she would not let it dictate her world'; 'I will heal from this.'
Corroborated At the pre-sentence hearing on 22 September 2026 Yeates read an apology calling his actions repulsive; his counsel cited diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and compulsive sexual behaviour disorder and asked for no custody; the Commonwealth prosecutor argued for a custodial sentence; sentencing is in October 2026.

Causal attribution. Submissions made in open court and reported by both outlets.

  • abc.net.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'a psychologist had diagnosed the 20-year-old with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)'; 'She asked the court not to sentence Yeates to time behind bars'; 'My actions were repulsive and will continue to plague my mind for as long as I breathe'; 'Yeates faces a maximum penalty of seven years behind bars and will be sentenced next month.'
  • easternriverinachronicle.com.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'Yeates read an apology in court, saying he was in a constant state of self-loathing and shame.'; 'his diagnoses of autism, compulsive sexual behaviour disorder and persistent adjustment disorder'; 'was warranted, the prosector said'; 'Judge Anne Barnett will sentence Yeates on October 22.'
Reported She said the discovery of the offending resulted in the darkest period of her life.

Causal attribution. The victim's statement as paraphrased by the ABC; AAP does not carry this line.

  • abc.net.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'offending resulted in the'; 'of her life but said she would not let it define her.'
Reported The Sun quotes her as saying the body in the images was not hers but he had made her hate her body; the line does not appear in the ABC or AAP reports.

Causal attribution. The Sun's rendering of her statement; not in the two independent court reports.

Reported She told the court that the pornography website showed her real graduation photo beside altered videos of her with her full name and school attached.

Causal attribution. The victim's statement as quoted by the ABC; AAP's quotation stops at the website.

Reported He had initially been charged with 20 offences; the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew those counts in lieu of the pleas to the four charges.

Causal attribution. ABC court reporting of the April 2026 hearing.

  • abc.net.au(opens in new tab) supports · Australian English
    'The 19-year-old was initially charged with 20 offences, but the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) withdrew those counts in lieu of the pleas to the four charges.'
Reported AAP reports that Judge Anne Barnett will sentence him on 22 October 2026 and that the prosecutor said the material will be online in perpetuity.

Causal attribution. AAP court reporting; the ABC gives October without a date or the judge's name.

Sources

5 sources inspected, from 2 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read live on 2026-09-23 (ABC News, Eva Blandis, 25 February 2026, updated 27 February): charges, suppression order lifted, first prosecution of its type in SA, court-document allegations. Applies to s1.

Read live on 2026-09-23 (ABC News, Eva Blandis, 15 April 2026): guilty pleas, withdrawal of the other counts, committal to the District Court. Applies to s2.

Read live on 2026-09-23 (ABC News, Eva Blandis, 22 September 2026): pre-sentence hearing, victim impact statement, apology, defence and prosecution submissions. Applies to s3.

Read live on 2026-09-23 (Australian Associated Press, Abe Maddison, 22 September 2026, published by the Eastern Riverina Chronicle; an identical copy ran in The Singleton Argus): the same hearing with additional quotations and the 22 October sentencing date. Applies to s4.

Read on 2026-09-23 through the r.jina.ai reader proxy (the live page returned a shell). Foreign-desk rewrite carrying the ABC and AAP quotations; adds that he was a second-year University of Adelaide law student and had become infatuated with the girl. Its text tracks the AAP copy (same quotations and truncations), so it shares the AAP independence group and is not used to corroborate any claim. Applies to s5.

Event countries: Australia. Affected-person countries: Australia. Court countries: Australia.

The offender lived in Netherby, Adelaide, and was prosecuted in the Adelaide Magistrates Court and the South Australian District Court (ABC, AAP); the victim delivered her statement in person in the Adelaide court (ABC, AAP); her residence and school are not reported. Court: South Australia (Commonwealth prosecution in a state court).

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-23: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact case with a criminal record: guilty pleas under Australia's 2024 deepfake offence and a victim impact statement given in open court, reported by ABC News across three hearings and independently by the Australian Associated Press at the pre-sentence hearing. The victim is unnamed and not further identified here; the adult defendant is named as in the court reporting after the suppression order was lifted.

People described

A teenage girl, now 19, who knew the offender (described by The Sun as a former friend) and delivered her victim impact statement in person in the South Australian District Court in Adelaide; her graduation photograph was used to make sexually explicit deepfake images and videos posted with her full name and school. She is not named in the reporting or here

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One victim: every report refers to a single teenage girl (the alleged victim; his victim), and the pleas concern material depicting her. Exact 1.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#deepfake#australia#south-australia#adelaide#criminal-charges#non-consensual-images#x-twitter#first-prosecution

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Adelaide: a law student who turned a teenage girl's school graduation photograph into sexually explicit deepfake images and videos shared across accounts on X, in Australia's first prosecution under the 2024 federal deepfake law, heard her victim impact statement at a pre-sentence hearing on 22 September 2026; she told the court the fake images had a 'painfully real' impact and that she first saw her real graduation photo on a pornography website beside the altered videos with her full name and school. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-adelaide-yeates-deepfake-graduation-photo-first-federal-prosecution

BibTeX

@misc{2026_adelaide_yeates_deepfake_graduation_photo_first_federal_prosecution,
  title = {Adelaide: a law student who turned a teenage girl's school graduation photograph into sexually explicit deepfake images and videos shared across accounts on X, in Australia's first prosecution under the 2024 federal deepfake law, heard her victim impact statement at a pre-sentence hearing on 22 September 2026; she told the court the fake images had a 'painfully real' impact and that she first saw her real graduation photo on a pornography website beside the altered videos with her full name and school},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-adelaide-yeates-deepfake-graduation-photo-first-federal-prosecution}
}

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