Man sentenced for secretly filming in aquatic centre changing room

A man who secretly filmed women and children getting changed after a swim at a New Plymouth pool has been sentenced to a hefty term of community work.

Mohammad Rizki Ardianta previously pleaded guilty to two charges of making an intimate visual recording.

Ardianta was arrested in July this year, after his covert filming was discovered by a victim of his offending, when she spotted his phone on the floor of the changing rooms.

On the morning of July 19, the defendant was at the Todd Energy Aquatic Centre in New Plymouth, with his child.

After having a swim, they went to a family changing room, one in a block of cubicles at the complex.

When inside, he started the recording function on his phone and put it on the floor, near the open air gap. By doing this, he was able to film people using the changing facility next door.

An eight-minute video subsequently found on his phone showed a woman and her two children, who were visibly naked at times, as they got dressed after a swim.

In an attempt to make another recording, Ardianta angled the phone to get a better view of the neighbouring room’s interior.

The victim, who was with her one-yearold child, spotted the cellphone on the floor and grabbed it.

When she rewound the recording, she saw the footage, and contacted police.

Ardianta was arrested at his home later that day.

At his sentencing in the New Plymouth District Court on Wednesday, before Judge Gregory Hikaka, the defendant was sentenced to 250 hours of community work and a nine-month term of supervision.

An order to destroy the phone used to conduct the filming was also granted.