An Australian tourist covertly filmed six men while they were showering at a Queenstown backpackers.
The voyeuristic behaviour of Brodie Garrett Mayne only came to an end when his sixth and final victim noticed a cellphone sticking above the shower door.
The 26-year-old Tasmanian filmed his first victim in the central Queenstown hostel’s shared bathroom about 8pm on February 1.
He filmed a second man in the shower 15 minutes later, then filmed four others the following night between 6.50pm and 8pm.
Police arrested him later that night and found the video recordings on his phone, although the first five victims could not be identified.
Mayne, who told police he made the recordings to have something to masturbate to, admitted six charges of making an intimate visual recording at his sentencing in the Queenstown District Court yesterday.
Counsel Megan Waller said Mayne suffered from depression and anxiety, and was under stress from working three jobs.
He had difficulty sleeping after arriving in New Zealand, and "things came to the surface".
Although his mental health challenges helped explain his behaviour, he was "disgusted and ashamed of himself", and did not wish to minimise the trauma he had caused, Ms Waller said.
He had written a letter of apology to the sixth victim.
Ms Waller said the defendant was supposed to have returned to work last week, and hoped to pay a fine or reparation so he could return home immediately and re-engage with a psychologist.
He would suffer "extreme financial and personal hardship" if he had to stay in New Zealand any longer, Ms Waller said.
Judge Catriona Doyle said an appropriate sentence for Mayne’s "abhorrent" behaviour would normally be a short term of imprisonment.
However, he was a first offender, appeared to show some insight into the cause of his offending and had entered early guilty pleas.
She convicted him, deferring the sentence for 12 months, but ordered that he pay the identified victim $1000 reparation for emotional harm.
- Guy Williams, PIJF Court Reporter
