Australia’s first conviction under new deepfake laws has resulted in a suspended prison sentence for a man who created degrading, sexually explicit AI material depicting a teenage girl.
William Hamish Yeates, a law student from Netherby in Adelaide’s south, appeared in the South Australian District Court on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges of creating or modifying sexual material without consent between October 2024 and February 2025.
Yeates was sentenced to two years and three months in prison, but the term was suspended on the condition that he enter a three-year, $500 good behaviour bond.
During a five-month campaign of abuse, Yeates altered a graduation photograph of his victim and uploaded AI-generated images and videos to the pornographic website Ero Me and social media platform X using several accounts.
He also pleaded guilty to two charges of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, along with one charge of using a carriage service to make personal data available.
Yeates, who attended Adelaide’s Mercedes College, a private school with annual fees of $20,000, was 18 when the offending occurred.
The victim was 17 at the time and previously told the court that she believed Yeates was someone she could trust.
William Hamish Yeates has avoided jail after pleading guilty to two charges of creating or altering sexual material without consent
The University of Adelaide law student is the first person in Australia convicted under federal legislation introduced in 2024 to address the growing threat of deepfake pornography.
The court heard that Yeates became involved, aged 15 or 16, in online communities focused on pornography, misogyny and controversial influencer Andrew Tate, who has been accused of rape.
When delivering the sentence, District Court Judge Anne Barnett said Yeates’s conduct had “degraded and humiliated” the young victim.
“The first time she saw her Year 12 graduation photo was on a pornographic website,” Judge Barnett said.
“As a consequence, she now reflects on her graduation day not with pride in her achievements, but with the torment of memories of the altered content.
“She remains frightened that the content you created will resurface and anxious that it will continue to follow her into the future.
“She now questions her judgment and whether she can trust other people. Your offending has tainted memories that were, and should have been, happy ones for her.”
Judge Barnett also accepted that Yeates was not motivated by malice, finding that he had become desensitised by online material and had shown genuine remorse.
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Over five months, Yeates altered his 17-year-old victim’s graduation photo and shared AI-generated images and videos on pornographic website Ero Me and social media platform X through multiple accounts
“You’ve said that you derived a sense of belonging from participating in those online communities,” Judge Barnett said.
“You became involved in online communities where the creation and sharing of sexualised images of women had become normalised, and you began seeking validation within those communities.”
‘Further, that you had developed an obsessive preoccupation with the victim and had come to believe, albeit irrationally, that you were in a relationship with her.
‘[Your] compulsive sexual behaviour disorder predated offending conduct and contributed to the use of pornography and ultimately led to the offending.’
Judge Barnett said her ruling took into account Yeates’ mental health diagnoses, his youth, plea of guilty, expressions of remorse, engagement in treatment, absence of prior offending and prospects of rehabilitation.
‘I further accept that your youth and neurodevelopmental condition associated with your autism spectrum disorder, together with the associated social and cognitive deficits, materially influenced the development of your offending and impaired the maturity of your appreciation of its wrongfulness and likely consequences.’
She added Yeates failed to appreciate the ‘serious criminal nature’ at the time of his offending but has since developed a ‘greater understanding’ of his actions.
Yeates was ordered to pay the victim’s medical expenses and ordered to forfeit a phone and laptop computer which was seized by police.
District Judge Anne Barnett accepted Yeates’ offending was not motivated by malice claiming he had become desensitised by online content
In September, his now-19-year-old victim delivered an emotional victim impact statement telling Yeates that her face, identity and image ‘were never yours to take’.
‘I was not yours to expose, alter, sexualise, stalk, or dehumanise,’ she said.
‘You made the deliberate choice to strip away my dignity and turn me into something for your sick obsession.
‘The first time I saw my actual graduation photo was on a pornographic website… every time I now see that photo, I feel sick.
‘These images of me were fake, but the impact they had is painfully real. You tried to reduce me to an image on the screen, but I am so much more than that.
‘If sharing my experience helps even one other victim feel seen, heard, believed, or protected, then something meaningful will come from the pain you caused. I will heal from this.’