Toilet trouble one-off incident
Man arrested over filming at Esplanade Lagoon loos
POLICE have reassured the public the arrest of a man caught filming others at a busy city toilet block was “very much an isolated incident”.
Detective Acting Inspector Kev Goan said while police still wanted to talk to men who may have used the toilets and change rooms at the Esplanade Lagoon at the weekend, the facility was safe.
A 28-year-old Atherton man was charged with filming other men at the facility on Saturday.
“People shouldn’t be concerned about using the facilities,” Detective Acting Inspector Goan said.
“But in the modern era, people have to remain vigilant about their own personal safety.”
Cairns Regional Council’s Richie Bates said the incident was “disturbing” and the council would be “taking every step to make sure it won’t happen again”.
“We’ll be reviewing CCTV and patrols and making sure it is the safest place possible,” he said.
“How an event like this occurred without people knowing is hard to believe but it is hard to completely eliminate all this sort of behaviour.”
The man’s suspicious actions were reported to police, who immediately detained him and confiscated his mobile phone. Twenty videos were discovered on the device.
“What we’re asking is for anyone who has used the male facilities who saw anything suspicious or saw anything untoward between 11.15am and 2.25pm on Saturday to come forward to police,” Detective Acting Inspector Goan said.
Children did not appear to be the target of the man’s activities.
The man is scheduled to appear in the Cairns Magistrates Court on June 11.