A man convicted for illicitly filming under a cubicle door at a swimming pool has been sentenced to a curfew and four months' community detention.
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Lyle Musson, 29, was found guilty of one charge of doing an indecent act with intent to offend, in the Wellington District Court.
He was sentenced today to four months' community detention, and will have to remain at home between 7pm and 6am each day.
In February last year a woman showering with her child at the Kilbirnie Aquatic Centre saw a shoe under the door and feared someone was filming them.
She screamed loudly and the shoe disappeared from her sight.
Musson was wearing the shoe and CCTV showed him near the cubicle, reaching down to it then moving away.
He continues to deny there was a camera or any recording device attached to his shoe.
However, Judge Peter Butler said circumstantial factors persuaded him Musson was trying to film the woman and her child, leading to a conviction.
The judge read from the woman's victim impact statement in which she said she worried about where any pictures might end up.
"That's the thing that sickens me most and gives me the most concern. We may never know ... where it might have ended up - on the web or in private paedophile email groups.
"The thought of it horrifies me. I try not to think about it."
Musson's lawyer, Joseph Griffiths, had argued for a community-based sentence, saying his client worked as a casual painter to support his wife and children and home detention would prevent him from doing that.
He said the case had put a lot of stress on Musson's relationship with his wife and his work had suffered.
"He has already suffered some form of punishment as a result of the conviction and ensuing media attention and obviously the embarrassment.
"He says ... he has been stressed by going through the trial process."
Judge Butler also ordered Musson to attend a counselling programme, as directed by his probation officer.
