New trial

The High Court has ordered a new trial for a man who secretly installed a computer camera system that caught images of a woman naked in her bedroom. In June, Christchurch man Roy Thomas, 34, was acquitted on a charge of making an intimate visual recording by Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders. The Crown appealed on the grounds Judge Saunders had made an error of law by ruling the prosecution had to prove Thomas knew the woman would specifically use the laptop with the camera system in her bedroom. A new trial would be needed because the High Court could not say how the facts as found by Judge Saunders would translate when applying the correct test.