Although the final victim spotted Mayne’s phone, the defendant left the bathroom before he could be confronted.
Police arrested him that night and found the video recordings on his phone, although the first five victims could not be identified.
Mayne, who told police he made the recordings to have something to masturbate to, admitted six charges of making an intimate visual recording, at his sentencing in the Queenstown District Court yesterday.
Lawyer Megan Waller said Mayne suffered from depression and anxiety, and was under stress from working three jobs.
He had difficulty sleeping after arriving in New Zealand, and “things came to the surface”.
Although his mental health challenges helped explain his behaviour, he was “disgusted and ashamed of himself”, and did not wish to minimise the trauma he had caused, Waller said.
He had written a letter of apology to the sixth victim.
Waller said Mayne was supposed to have returned to work last week, and hoped to pay a fine or reparation so he could return home immediately and re-engage with a psychologist.
He would suffer “extreme financial and personal hardship” if he had to stay in New Zealand any longer, Waller said.
Judge Catriona Doyle said an appropriate sentence for Mayne’s “abhorrent” behaviour would usually be a short term of imprisonment.
However, he was a first offender, appeared to show some insight into the cause of his offending and had entered early guilty pleas.
She convicted him, deferring the sentence for 12 months, but ordered that he pay the identified victim $1000 reparation for emotional harm.
– Guy Williams, PIJF Court Reporter
