A Gold Coast man has narrowly escaped jail after secretly filming more than 100 nude videos of his ex-partner’s teenage children and guests at their home.
The 41-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the minors, filmed the videos over three years after hiding a camera in a shower vent and also filming under the gap in a bathroom door and through a window.
A court heard this week that the man groped his ex’s daughter when she was 17 and then made dozens of videos of her by covertly filming his groin area as she sat on a table in her nightgown and no underwear, it was reported. The Costa Dorada Newsletter.
The man’s crime was uncovered when his ex-partner, the mother of his young son, found a hidden gallery on his phone and contacted the police.
Officers then searched the home and found the hidden camera and a cable running through the ceiling to their computer in the couple’s bedroom.
The man had nearly 70 videos of the 17-year-old in the shower, more than 30 of her in her nightgown, one of her ex’s 17-year-old son and his 16-year-old girlfriend in the shower, and five others of the girl alone.
In a victim impact statement read out at Southport Magistrates’ Court, the former partner said: “The sense of betrayal we feel is profound.”
“His actions were not a mistake or a momentary lapse of judgment… he was in complete control and had the ability to change his predatory behavior at any time,” she said.
A Gold Coast man has been given a nine-month suspended prison sentence at Southport Magistrates Court after covertly filming his ex’s teenage children in the shower.
The 41-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the minors, filmed the videos over three years after hiding a camera in a shower vent and also filming under a bathroom door gap and through a window.
The woman said her ex had “manipulated and groomed” her and her children, and that she felt ashamed for failing to protect them.
“We constantly feel like we are being watched, which makes us feel unsafe and anxious in our own homes,” she said.
The man pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault and five counts of making observations or recordings in violation of privacy.
The man’s defense attorney said his client had witnessed and been a victim of abuse as a child and was seeing a psychologist who said he had a “positive prognosis” for rehabilitation.
Magistrate Mark Whitbread said the man’s offending was “abhorrent” and it was disgraceful that his ex “blamed herself”.
But he also said the steps the man had taken to rehabilitate himself since his exposure should be considered.
He sentenced the man to nine months in prison, suspended for four years, and probation for three years.
The police also issued an AVO on behalf of the woman and her children.