'Peeping tom' law to be amended

A "peeping tom" loophole which allowed a man to avoid a charge of performing an indecent act, will be tightened after the election, regardless of which party wins.

In Hamilton District Court on Tuesday, Christopher Douglas Kurth, 18, was sentenced after he tried to use a cellphone camera to take pictures of a Hamilton woman while she used a public toilet.

Had a proposed law been in place, Kurth could have faced a term of imprisonment.

Police were unable to get a conviction on an indecency charge because, said Judge Denise Clark, Kurth's behaviour did not "meet the standards" under the present law.

Kurth was convicted on an amended charge of offensive behaviour.

Hamilton East Labour MP Dianne Yates, chairwoman of the Government's administration select committee, said new law drafted to plug the legislation gap had gone to the select committee and had been reported back.

Ms Yates said she expected the law to be passed early in the next term of government.

"There are already peeping tom laws. Intimate covert filming, however, is a new crime, using new technology -- cellphone cameras -- and it needs a new law. Help is on its way as fast as we can deliver."

Justice Minister Phil Goff had tabled the Covert Filming Bill for its first reading in the House in May.

Mr Goff said the problem was getting worse, and the internet made the transfer of pictures easier. The bill proposed amendments to the Crimes Act.

It would define intimate visual recording and picture taking which was done without the knowledge or consent of the subject.

Possession of video recordings or pictures would carry a jail term of up to a year. The publication, sale, import, or export of the video or picture would carry a maximum penalty of three years' jail.

National law and order spokesman Tony Ryall said if National became government Mr Goff's proposals would be endorsed.

- nzpa