Toilet cam surgeon loses name suppression
Cardiologist Sam Wilson was the doctor who secretly filmed women in a toilet.
The High Court yesterday rejected Wilson’s bid for name suppression over the secret filming of colleagues at Nelson Hospital and two visitors to his home between 2012 and 2014.
Wilson, through his lawyers, apologised for the pain and distress his ‘‘selfish and foolish’’ actions had caused.
The surgeon resigned from the hospital after being charged in 2015, and is no longer working as a medical practitioner. He is also being investigated by the Medical Council and is likely to face disciplinary action.
Wilson, 44, filmed nine women using a miniature recording device set up in a hospital changing room/toilet. On another occasion he used the device to film up a colleague’s skirt.
He also filmed two women using a toilet at his home.
The offending came to light by chance when he lost his tablet computer and police found the recordings while trying to trace the owner. In January this year, he admitted eight charges of making an intimate visual recording and was sentenced to seven months of home detention. His bid for continued name suppression was declined but he appealed to the High Court.
Justice David Collins said Wilson had failed to show that publishing his name would risk identifying the victims, or that publication would cause him and his family extreme hardship.
The judge said eight of the victims opposed the name suppression, citing the inappropriateness of his name remaining secret ‘‘when he violated their dignity and privacy’’.