Hidden camera case: Former government manager Philip Barnes re-sentenced in Auckland

Phillip Barnes was re-sentenced on Tuesday at the North Shore District Court. Photo / Facebook

A former government manager who waged a lengthy but ultimately unsuccessful battle to keep his name secret after planting a spy camera in a gym changing room has been re-sentenced.

Phillip Barnes appeared in the North Shore District Court on Tuesday, more than four years after authorities first accused him of capturing almost 40,000 images of people in various states of undress at the Auckland facility.

Barnes was discharged without conviction in June 2020 and given permanent name suppression - a decision that the person who found the camera would later say "disgusted" her. Police appealed against the sentence, arguing that the summary of facts used by the judge incorrectly outlined one day of offending instead of four separate days.

Months later, High Court at Auckland Justice Simon Moore struck down the sentence, entered a conviction and also revoked permanent name suppression, noting that the case was "clearly in the public interest".

The case was sent back to the North Shore District Court for sentencing, but not before the High Court decision was appealed by Barnes, triggering another delay before he could be named. His name suppression lapsed last May.

During his re-sentencing on Tuesday, Judge Clare Bennett ordered him to pay $1000 to each victim. She declined a new application to discharge him without conviction.

At the time of offending, Barnes held a high-ranking position at IANZ (International Accreditation New Zealand), a Crown organisation that was later tasked with taking the lead on processing Covid-19 tests across the country. He was promoted to acting CEO while the case was still pending but resigned after he was confronted by other company officials who were not told of the charges but suspected he was the unnamed government official described in the media.

During previous hearings, defence lawyer Ron Mansfield said the number of images described by authorities was "deceiving" because the small USB camera worked by capturing many photos and running them together quickly.

The offending occurred on four days over a roughly two-week period, he said.