Voyeurism case highlights dangers of hidden recordings

  • 16/07/2015
Voyeurism case highlights dangers of hidden recordings

By 3 News online staff

A man who says he's addicted to "voyeurism pornography" has admitted to filming people in public toilets in New Plymouth.

The 45-year-old man with name suppression pleaded guilty at the New Plymouth District Court to two charges of making an intimate visual recording of another person.

He used motion-activated cameras disguised as clothes hooks and smoke detectors.

Privacy lawyer Kathryn Dalziel says these sorts of offences are becoming more prevalent.

"The accessibility to video equipment has become more available because we have our cameras on us all the time through our mobile phones so we are starting to see more of those sorts of offences being committed because it becomes easier to do it," she says.

Intimate visual recordings are those in which a recording device is used without a person's knowledge or consent in a situation where they could reasonably expect to have privacy.

Ms Dalziel says it's not always easy to know if you're a victim of it until it is too late.

"You may not find out about it until you find you're the star of a YouTube video and again, that's something people should keep an eye about - that you don't have an online presence you don't know about."

Anyone who believes they're a victim of a hidden recording should contact police.

The man will be sentenced next month.

3 News / RadioLIVE