Man allegedly filmed colleagues on toilet
A GOLD Coast man who allegedly made more than 50 videos of his female work colleagues on the toilet using his iPhone and Apple watch has been granted bail.
The man, who works with disabled children, is also accused of taking another 18 videos of women using the change rooms at Cotton On in Harbour Town Shopping Centre.
Eric Serges Luna Balanay, 30, has been charged with more than 50 counts of breaching people’s privacy by making a recording.
Balanay, a behavioural therapist with the AEIOU Foundation, which works with autistic children, lost his job after he was accused of preying on 14 co-workers and four parents of children at the foundation.
He was supported by his wife, who works at AEIOU, when he appeared in Southport Magistrates Court yesterday.
Magistrate Ron Kilner granted Balanay bail on the condition he does not carry a mobile phone or a device capable of recording video or taking photos.
He was also required to surrender his passport and report to police three times a week.
Documents tendered in court reveal police were concerned Balanay may flee as he has only been in the country since 2016 after moving to the Gold Coast from the Philippines to work.
Details of how the Filipino national allegedly made the videos were also included in the documents tendered in court.
Balanay allegedly placed his iPhone camera in a bumbag and left it in the staff-only disabled toilet at the centre.
He is accused of waiting outside the toilet cubicle and then using his Apple Watch’s bluetooth connection to activate the phone’s camera.
Police allegedly found 70 videos in his possession when they raided his home on Tuesday.
Police are still identifying all the women in the footage but have received complaints from two girls as young as 14 and 17 which are under investigation, they say.
Suspicions were raised when a shopper at Cotton On allegedly saw Balanay sliding a phone, attached to his shoe under the change room doors, it is alleged.
He was charged on Sunday in relation to allegedly recording women at Harbour Town and, when released, yelled at the Bulletin to stop taking photos.
Defence lawyer Victoria Ward, of Brooke Winter Solicitors, said it was too early to adequately respond to the charges as police were yet to particularise the matters. “It is difficult to grasp the gravity of these offences,” she said.
Ms Ward said Balanay was not a flight risk as he and his wife had just signed a rental lease and she still had two years to go on her work contract.
Balanay will next appear in court on June 18.