It’s footage that is hard to forget:
A shaking woman walks down a city street dressed only in a towel.
A man, who is filming her as she walks, yells obscenities at her in Spanish, calling her a whore, a tart and a bitch. Occasionally she tries to respond, to explain, but he cuts her off “Take off your towel. You’re going to pay the price like a whore… Since you’re a whore, pose like a whore. Damn whore.”
Even without seeing the footage, it’s clear this is the most degrading kind of torture. From a man who professes to love the woman he is humiliating.
The man, who we now know is Jason Melo, 22, posted the video online for the world to see. The backlash was immediate. Melo was condemned for his cruelty.
Less than a week after the original video appeared online, Melo posted another video to his Instagram account apologising to “women”.
“Jason Melo here. I want to ask all women for forgiveness. I want them to know, that really, I didn’t want this to – I didn’t think this would – get to this point,” he says.
“Maybe, I made a mistake, to do what I did, from the beginning to take her out naked. I really regret this. If I could turn back time, I wouldn’t do it. Because in my mind, so much has happened to me.
“I came from a woman, I have a daughter, and I have two sisters. But look what you pushed me to do. I am sorry for everything. This the last video I will make, I don’t want any interviews, I don’t want anything,” he says.
He wipes away a tear as he listens to a song about how no man is perfect.