Lucca Barel pleads guilty to upskirting, stealing girls bathers

A man nabbed upskirting young girls at a busy shopping centre was also caught stealing children’s clothes at a popular Torquay beach, a court has heard.

Lucca Barel leaving Geelong Magistrates Court on Monday.

A man nabbed upskirting young girls at a busy shopping centre was also caught stealing children’s bathers at a popular Torquay beach.

Lucca Barel, 32, pleaded guilty to four charges in the Geelong Magistrates Court on Monday; upskirting, producing child abuse material, theft and attempted theft.

Magistrate Ann McGarvie convicted Barel and placed him on a 24-month community corrections order (CCO) including 240 hours of community work.

Police prosecutor senior Constable Denise Frame told the court that Barel went to Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre to upskirt girls on two occasions last year.

The court heard Barel loitered in the food court for hours before standing behind a mother and her nine-to-11-year-old daughter and placed his mobile phone under the child’s skirt.

Barel returned to the complex on October 3, where he attempted to film a 12-year-old girl, however the girl’s mother noticed Barel filming him and called triple-0.

Soon after, Barel sat at a table in the food court, opposite a table of teenagers and placed his mobile phone facing an unidentified girl estimated to be 11-13 years old.

He was arrested later that day.

Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre.

When asked if he had a sexual interest in children during the police interview, Barel said: “I like to think that I don’t”.

On April 13 this year police were called to Cosy Corner in Torquay due to reports a man was stealing from bags on the beach.

One witness saw Barel stealing from their bag and confronted him; Barel handed back a pair of “young children’s underwear”.

When police caught up with Barel he had attempted to dispose of a young girl’s bathing suit in bushes metres from his car.

He told police he hid it “out of embarrassment”, the court heard; when asked what he was embarrassed about, he said: “my sexual fetishes”.

Barel’s lawyer, Tom Edwards, acknowledged the offending was severe and “particularly frightening” for parents but asked the court to spare Barel a prison sentence.

Mr Edwards said Barel, who was supported by his father in court, had been attending counselling sessions in Melbourne, out of his own pocket, and was “genuinely motivated to seek assistance”.

Torquay’s Cosy Corner beach. Picture: Mark Wilson

Barel had pleaded early, had no criminal history and had maintained a consistent work history.

He was also supported bis parents, who were appalled by his offending.

Barel’s parents and sister wrote letters to the court, as did Barel himself – where he spoke about his embarrassment and some of what he had learned through the counselling, Mr Edwards said.

Mr Edwards said Barel’s offending, while brazen, lacked sophistication and the aggravating factors some offending of that type often included – Barel was a solo operator not part of “a larger, more evil syndicate”.

Constable Frame acknowledged that Barel seemed to have shown genuine remorse and insight, but said the offending was “predatory”.

“Young girls with their mothers should be able to feel safe … without worrying about frightening behaviour like this,” Constable Frame said.

However, she submitted a CCO with conviction was a “justified penalty” in Barel’s case.

Originally published as Lucca Barel pleads guilty to upskirting, stealing girls bathers