The court suppressed the name of the Wellington bar where the woman were filmed in 2020. Photo / 123rf file
The court suppressed the name of the Wellington bar where the woman were filmed in 2020. Photo / 123rf file
An employee at a central Wellington pub was halfway through getting undressed at the end of her shift when she noticed a cellphone in the pocket of a backpack.
Stepping closer, the young woman discovered the phone was actually recording. But it was only when she stopped it and looked back at the start she discovered her assistant manager had been secretly recording staff getting changed at work.
“Distraught, angry, hurt, betrayed, disgusted,” were just some of the words used by one of the man’s five young female victims to describe how the secret recordings made them feel.
“[There’s] a constant feeling of being objectified and like men are watching them,” Judge Andrew Nicholls said at the sentencing of the 46-year-old man in the Wellington District Court today.
The man, who has interim name suppression pending an appeal, was sentenced to 100 hours of community work and 12 months’ supervision on a representative charge of making an intimate visual recording and one of attempting to make an intimate recording.
His lawyer Blake Dawson said his client had taken out a $5000 loan to pay his victims in emotional harm reparations, which was ordered by the judge to be split evenly between his victims.
Five women, aged in their late teens and early 20s, were filmed in 2020 by their assistant manager without their knowledge as they changed in a small staffroom at the back of the pub they worked for.
According to the summary of facts, one victim was counting money from the pokie machines late in her shift when the offender told her she could get changed and go home while he finished paperwork.
What she didn’t know was as she went to change, he had hit record on a cellphone before placing it in a backpack placed on top of a locker angled in her direction.
Noticing the phone only once her top was unbuttoned and her bra exposed, the victim took the device from the bag, stopped the recording and looked back at the start of the video.
This was when her assistant manager’s face stared back at her from the phone screen.
Deleting the recording and placing the phone back in the bag, she later reported the incident to management and the police.
A search warrant by police revealed it was not the first time a young employee had been filmed without her knowledge.
Police seized devices including an Apple iPad and a desktop computer.
More video and images were found on the devices, including one of another female worker changing in the staffroom which lasted 46 seconds.
Around 10 images were found on the iPad, all screenshots of videos taken of the young women changing at work.
The man, whose name continues to be suppressed on an interim basis, was sentenced today in the Wellington District Court. Photo / File
Words from the victims, summarised by Judge Nicholls, showed the significant impact the incidents had.
Judge Nicholls said the women spoke about serious mental health struggles, feeling like their dignity had been stripped away by the offenders’ actions and how they were struggling with self-image, trust and objectification issues.
One woman, a university student, said her years since the offending should have been an era of self-discovery and fun, but instead were filled with anxiety.
Another said she still checks her own bathroom and toilet and to this day refuses to use public restrooms.
“I can’t do these statements justice but they do speak bravely of the very serious impact your offending has had on these young women and continues to have on them,” Judge Nicholls said.
The case has been going through the courts for nearly three years, following a number of procedural setbacks.
Defence lawyer Dawson said his client was described by pre-sentence report writers as a low risk of reoffending and submitted he was remorseful for his actions.
Police prosecutor Morgan Speight said the man’s offending “did have an impact on five young women” and asked for a sentence to be set in place that meant there were no further victims.
The man will have to seek help from a psychologist as part of his sentence of supervision and has self-referred to WellStop, an organisation that helps with the prevention of sexual harm.
Details of the case, including the complete victim impact statements and name of the bar were suppressed at the hearing.
Judge Nicholls declined the man’s bid for permanent name suppression; however, his name remains suppressed on an interim basis pending an appeal which was indicated by Dawson.
Hazel Osborne is an Open Justice reporter for NZME and is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. She joined the Open Justice team at the beginning of 2022, previously working in Whakatāne as a court and crime reporter in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
