A man who used hidden cameras to photograph and record his ex-partner’s sister while she was undressing and showering has been sentenced to a two-year community corrections order with 15 months’ supervision.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Magistrate Ron Saines stipulated that Scott Adams, 26, also complete sexual offences and mental health treatment programs through Corrections Victoria’s Specialised Offender Assessment & Treatment Service.
Adams appeared in Ballarat Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to several offences including stalking by engaging in intimidating conduct, making an intimate video recording without consent, and threatening to publish the photos and video on the internet.
While several charges were withdrawn, Adams faced new breach bail charges. Defence lawyer Brett O’Sullivan told the court his client had grown up without a father which had a significant impact and that when Adams contacted his former partner via email, it was about wanting to be part of his son’s life.
However, Mr Saines said he had received “highly credible” victim impact statements that described the women’s feelings and “sense of invasion.”
“The question of whether (Adams) should see his son was not something “to be resolved by email” and there was a “genuine question about whether it is in the best interests of the child.”
“You have stated in your email that ‘it is your right’, but my view is that, because of your actions, you don’t have that right. Your offending contains a number of elements that are extremely serious.”
“The threats to the mother of your child were menacing and intended to cause fear and your conduct towards her sister was predatory, sexually offensive, the stealing (of underwear) was outright sexual deviency,” Mr Saines said.
In earlier proceedings the court was told Adams had installed cameras in the bathroom and a bedroom of a Redan house where he was living and that between 20 and 22 February 2018, had recorded the woman while she undressed in a bedroom and while showering.
A mobile phone with the naked woman’s photo as the background display was later found during a police search, along with a computer containing photos and video, a recording drone, cameras, flashdrives, and five pairs of women’s briefs soiled with semen hidden in a wardrobe, that were later identified as belonging to his former partner’s sister.
Adams was also charged with contravening a family violence intervention order on 26 December 2017 by sending threatening text messages to his former partner.
Mr Saines stood the matter down while Adams was assessed as to his suitability for a Community Corrections Order (CCO) and then later sentenced him to the supervised order and 200 hours of unpaid community work.
“If you breach this order I have instructed that you will be brought back before me and you will be imprisoned. I am not going to have you skipping off to eastern Victoria and disappearing,” he told Adams, who now lives in Narre Warren.
Several other charges have been adjourned to Ballarat Court on 20 February 2019.
Have you signed up to The Courier's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.