A Belgian tourist has been ordered to pay $1500 to the woman he was caught filming in a shower at a Cromwell backpackers.
Charles Henri Dumont (29) appeared in the Queenstown District Court yesterday and admitted one charge of making an intimate visual recording on August 1.
Judge Mark Callaghan said the sports management student, who was on holiday with his girlfriend, had been caught by the victim. She found him hiding in a toilet cubicle recording her on his cellphone.
``She got you to delete the intimate video recording,'' Judge Callaghan said.
The victim then told Dumont's girlfriend, who checked the phone to make sure the recording had been deleted.
``The victim impact statement says she [the victim] has been emotionally upset by this incident. She has had trouble sleeping since ... and been particularly cautious living in holiday accommodation.''
Counsel Louise Denton said Dumont had apologised to the victim.
In mitigation, Ms Denton said her client had grown up in the African country of Burundi up to the age of 18, where he had a ``view of atrocities''.
``Bodies along the side of the road were a common occurrence while he was growing up,'' Ms Denton said.
His father died in a scuba-diving accident three years ago. Then, while volunteering as a firefighter Dumont was first on the scene of a fatal traffic accident. His best friend was the victim and he had to pull the body from the wreckage.
Ms Denton said Dumont believed the psychological trauma might now be ``manifesting'' in his out-of-character behaviour. He
realised he needed help from a psychiatrist, although a supervision sentence would be problematic because he was due to leave the country on Saturday.
Judge Callaghan told Dumont the offence carried a maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment and was treated ``very seriously'' by the courts.
But given Dumont's background, early guilty plea, apology, and remorse, a monetary penalty was appropriate.
Dumont was ordered to make an emotional harm reparation payment of $1500 to the victim today.
