Nelson man jailed for covert home filming of naked people including son's girlfriend

Father hid cellphone in bathroom laundry basket to film people naked while they showered, according to court report. Photo / 123rf.com

A Nelson man has been jailed for covertly filming naked people, including a 13-year-old girl, in a private bathroom, Fairfax reported.

Alan McMaster, 51, was sentenced to 12 months in jail by Judge Tony Zohrab in the Nelson District Court yesterday.

McMaster pleaded guilty to four charges of making an intimate visual recording, Fairfax reported.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Stringer had previously said McMaster had told police he "just wanted to see his son's girlfriend naked".

The court heard McMaster made offensive recordings on his cellphone between June 8 and 16 by hiding it in a laundry basket in the bathroom of his home, Fairfax reported.

In doing so, he filmed three victims - one male and two females including the 13-year-old - while they were naked.

Defence lawyer John Sandston asked for home detention, saying the offending was not of a "physical nature" and that a four-year-old still living with McMaster was "unlikely to be a potential victim".

Police did not believe electronic monitoring would provide a sufficient deterrent to re-offending.

The judge said the 13-year-old was disgusted, angry, upset and could no longer trust people like she used to, especially men of McMaster's age or who looked like him.

Residents of his home did not oppose his detention there, but Child, Youth and Family did, Zohrab said.

McMaster was given leave to convert his sentence to home detention if a different, suitable address could be found, Fairfax reported.