Rolf Pieren, 35, avoided a black mark on his criminal record at the Invercargill District Court today after his bid for a discharge without conviction was successful.
The court heard the defendant covertly filmed two women, resulting in two charges of making an intimate visual recording.
Pieren set up a hidden GoPro in his room to record intimate relations with the first victim.
He stored the video on his laptop before moving it to his phone and the footage automatically backed up to his Apple ID account.
The woman was not aware of the camera, and never gave Pieren permission to film her.
Another woman was also a victim of Pieren’s undisclosed filming when he set up a camera in a bathroom and downloaded footage of the woman showering.
He saved the video and it automatically backed up.
Pieren gave the first victim his laptop and last year she asked for the password.
When she unlocked the device, a notification caught her eye.
She opened the notification and four short video clips were revealed.
Two were of her and Pieren having intimate relations and the other two showed the second victim showering with him.
When she confronted Pieren about his secret stash he said he was “so ashamed”, he clearly had issues at the time and he thought he had deleted the videos.
The woman told the second victim what she had discovered, and Pieren apologised to her too.
In statements to the court victims described the lasting impact the crimes had on them.
“The concept of consent is fundamental, not optional,” one said.
When spoken to by police, the defendant made full admissions and was remorseful.
Yesterday, counsel Fiona Guy-Kidd KC said if her client was convicted it was “highly likely” he would be deported.
She said that would be “life-changing” and “devastating” for Pieren, who lived in New Zealand for more than six years and was a permanent resident.
The defendant was a chef on a boat in Fiordland and his deportation would impact on his employer who was supporting him in court.
They described the defendant as an “indispensable asset”.
However they had found a temporary replacement for him as he planned to take time off for a sailing trip.
Pieren’s openness about the offending with his employer and family meant he was not likely to commit a similar crime in future.
“He now knows, if he ever was minded to [offend again], the huge consequences that would occur,” Ms Guy-Kidd said.
Judge Mark Williams said the offending was moderately serious and “highly intrusive”.
“The offending was deliberate rather than spontaneous… a degree of planning was required,” he added.
“Mr Pieren offers no real insight into why he committed this offending, other than stress at work and anxiety.”
Judge Williams thought “long and hard” about whether or not to convict Pieren.
“It is [by] a very fine margin, given the life changing consequences that would flow if Mr Pieren was deported… that I am satisfied, just, that the consequences are out of all proportion to the offending,” he said.
He granted Pieren a discharge without conviction and ordered him to pay $5000 emotional harm reparation to each victim.
