KEY POINTS:
A man convicted of covertly filming women using public toilets in a Wellington food court has had his prison sentence quashed and home detention imposed.
Unemployed Porirua man Richard Alan Ford, 26, was last November sentenced to two years, three months' prison on two charges of attempting to make intimate visual recordings and one charge of burglary.
Ford went into a cubicle in the women's toilets at the BNZ centre food court on December 21, 2006 - six weeks after being released from prison for similar offending.
A number of women used the toilet in the next cubicle and Ford allegedly stood on the toilet seat so he could look over and watch them.
The women were unaware they were being watched until one saw a camera flash and alerted building security.
Ford's lawyer appealed to the Court of Appeal, saying the sentence was inappropriate and manifestly excessive.
The court said in its decision it accepted Ford had a "deplorable record".
"He has persistently offended in ways that are a gross invasion of the privacy of others," it said.
It was "not without some distinct hesitation" that the court quashed the sentence in favour of eight months' home detention, saying it would allow Ford to get help.
"It may be said that this is taking something of a risk with this man. That is undoubtedly true but it is not the one the court would be prepared to entertain without some realistic prospects of success."
- NZPA
