Man pleads guilty to six intimate filming charges

Today a 36-year-old male has pleaded guilty to six representative charges of making intimate covert recordings of females in public, in private residential properties and of people known to him.

Police were alerted to his offending after a store security guard noticed the man attempting to covertly film and called Police.

Subsequent inquiries by Police identified data storage devices containing 1400 files which Police believe are intimate recordings made since February 2012. Police reviewed a sample of 98 videos and found 94 contained covert filming of approximately 180 females.

Detective Senior Sergeant John van den Heuvel says "It will be important for people to know that there is no evidence that the videos have been traded or distributed.

"Police are confident that all of the videos taken and recording devices the man had have now been seized.

"This man's offending was serious, prolific and involved deliberate and repeated breaches of a community's trust along with the invasion of the privacy unsuspecting females in public.

"His obsessive approach leads Police to believe his offending would have involved many more victims had he not been stopped.

"This type of offending, and to this extent, is by no means common but it is a useful reminder for people to call Police if they see people acting in unusual ways".

Police are not releasing the name of the church he belonged to in an effort to protect the identity of his victims.

The man has been remanded on bail and will be sentenced in the Wellington High Court on 24 July 2013.

ENDS

For media queries please contact Nick Bohm, Wellington District Communications Manager, on 027 559 2235.