Stepdad used CCTV to spy as teen undressed
A FATHER who used a CCTV camera to spy on his stepdaughter as she undressed has avoided serving actual jail time after he was given a suspended sentence.
On July 30, The Toowoomba District Court heard the man’s partner of 11 years left him alone with her children so she could visit her dying grandmother, in 2019.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the privacy of his victim, spied on his 13year-old stepdaughter through her bedroom window, while he waited for a delivery driver to drop off their dinner.
He later entered her bedroom and changed the position of a CCTV security camera so that it faced towards her bed, where she usually got dressed.
The court heard he linked the camera to his phone and set it to record.
Video obtained from the camera clearly showed the teenager standing naked, after she returned from bathing.
When the teen woke up the next day, she noticed the camera’s position had changed.
The court heard she became upset and told her mother immediately.
The mother then examined the camera’s data card, found the footage and reported the matter to police.
Police searched the property and seized the phone, along with several sex toys.
They charged the man with two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 as a guardian.
The court heard he contacted his partner and pressured her to drop the charges.
At one point he offered $1000 as compensation.
Police arrested the man a second time and added a fresh charge of attempting to pervert justice.
Acting for the man’s defence, barrister Jessica Goldie said her client made an early guilty plea, which indicated his remorse.
She also tended documentation of the man’s 20-year battle with depression.
The man pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 as a guardian and one count of attempting to pervert justice.
Judge Paul Smith ordered a head sentence of one year in jail but suspended it for an operational period of two years.
The man was released under the supervision of an authorised corrective services officer for two years.
Judge Smith recorded the man’s convictions.