A sentencing hearing in the case of six male teens in Nova Scotia who shared intimate images of at least 20 teenage girls without their consent has been delayed until September.

Sentencing was supposed to happen Monday in Bridgewater provincial court, however defence attorneys asked to have the sentencing adjourned. Judge Paul Scovil determined it was a "reasonable situation" and granted the adjournment.

Five of the six teens appeared in court on Monday.

The sentencing has been put over until Sept. 6.

The boys have admitted to forming a private Facebook group where they decided to exchange intimate photos of girls ranging in age from 13 to 17.

They created two Dropbox accounts to make it easier to share the pictures.

One of the largest cases of its kind involving youth

All victims were asked to submit victim impact statements and were offered an opportunity to participate in programming similar to restorative justice — all victims declined. Crown attorney Peter Dostal said it's still too soon for many of the girls to face the young men who shared their images.

"I think everyone's disappointed this couldn't be done today," Dostal said of the sentencing delay as he spoke with reporters outside the court.

"I think that not the least of which are the victims of this offence in that we do believe that they do continue to suffer from the impact that this offence has brought up and each time it's come back to court, each time that it's in the news, it does reopen the old wounds and makes it more difficult to for them to move on."

It's one of the largest cases in Canada involving youth, under a relatively untested law designed to combat the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.

The 2015 law was brought in after the suicide of Nova Scotia teen Rehtaeh Parsons, whose family says a photo of her being sexually assaulted was circulated among students at her school in Cole Harbour.

None of the teens involved in the Bridgewater case can be identified under Canada's youth criminal justice laws.