Girl, 16, sets trap to catch her step-dad spying on her in the shower at home

WARNING - DISTURBING CONTENT: A Central Queensland teenager suspected someone had been watching her take showers at home, so she set up a trap which proved her instinct right and caught the offender in a shocking breach of trust. Full details here.

It was a shocking breach of trust. Generic image.

A teenage girl who suspected someone had been watching her take showers at home, set a trap which caught her step-dad in the act.

The 47-year-old Central Queensland man, who by law cannot be named, pleaded guilty in Rockhampton Magistrates Court on March 29 to observing a person (genital region) without their consent.

The court heard the victim child, 16, resided with her step-dad at a township near Rockhampton.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Sarah Rowe said on December 23 last year, about 7.44pm, the girl went to the bathroom to take a shower.

Snr Const Rowe said in the bathroom there was one window which could be looked out of, to view the rear veranda of the house.

“Due to the location of the window, persons at the rear veranda would be able to look through the window from outside the dwelling, into the bathroom,” Snr Const Rowe said.

“At the time (of the offence), the window did not have any curtains, blinds or coverings that would prevent a person from looking in, or out, of the window.”

Snr Const Rowe said the girl, before removing her clothes and getting into the shower on December 23, started video recording on her mobile phone and placed it in the frame of the bathroom window “so that it viewed and recorded outside onto the rear veranda.”

“The victim child has done this as she had concerns that someone had been watching her through the window when she was in the shower,” Snr Const Rowe said.

The prosecutor said the girl completed her shower as normal, before getting out and ending the video recording on her phone.

“Upon reviewing the recording, the victim child discovered that she had recorded the defendant looking through the bathroom window whilst she was having a shower,” Snr Const Rowe said.

On February 17 this year, the victim child reported the matter to police.

The next day, detectives from the Rockhampton Child Protection and Investigation Unit went to the house and spoke with the child and obtained a version of events.

Detectives also got a copy of the digital video recording from the child which showed the defendant looking through the bathroom window while the girl was in the shower.

Detectives spoke to the defendant who was at the house at the time, and when questioned he made admissions to committing the offence.

While the court heard that the man had no criminal history, Snr Const Rowe submitted this was “a serious incident where there is a child that was in his care at that address, and he has observed her from the backyard.”

“It is clear from the footage that it is the defendant and there is no question in relation to that,” Snr Const Rowe said.

Magistrate Cameron Press noted the charge said “observation of the genital region” and there was nothing in the police documents which indicated that had occurred.

Snr Const Rowe replied: “Yes, that’s so, Your Honour. It would be that, obviously, she is naked in the shower, so I guess they have failed to articulate that in the (police) facts.”

Mr Press then said: “But you could have observation of anything... it’s not indicated whether it was of the head or whether it was of other regions of the victim’s body. And that certainly needs to be addressed, Mr (Grant) Cagney (defendant’s solicitor).”

Mr Cagney said he had considered that point “but in reality it’s accepted that she’s completely naked in a shower that has a glass screen.”

The solicitor agreed an observation from outside the window would give someone a full view of the person in the shower.

Mr Cagney said his client had been in a relationship with the child victim’s mother for seven years.

“Unsurprisingly that relationship is over - he has lost that relationship with his partner.”

Mr Cagney said the man was employed full-time and the victim child had relocated to another state.

“My client has effectively lost everything - and that’s not something to make Your Honour feel sorry for him, but it’s to hit home the effects, and perhaps more importantly, the remorse that he has.”

Mr Cagney added that it was a very early plea of guilty.

“I can advise Your Honour, that the QP9 (court brief) was silent as to how long this went on for,” Mr Cagney said.

“And I thought it was a question that Your Honour may be keen to know.

“So I did request the video - and it shows my client for roughly 45 seconds, Your Honour.

“So less than a minute.”

Mr Press asked what he was “to make of the imputation that it’s happened before”.

Mr Cagney responded: “My submission is, nothing. There’s no evidence that it has happened before. She did record obviously, it said she had a feeling, but my submission is, Your Honour wouldn’t take that any further. He’s here today for one offence and that’s it.”

Mr Cagney added that his client had been out on the back deck, putting out some rubbish at the time of the offence.

“He made full admissions straight away (to police) and accepted it was him... he simply was upfront with police and accepted his involvement.”

Mr Press considered a comparative case and before he handed down penalty, Snr Const Rowe made a final submission for the prosecution.

“This is a case where it is a child in the care of this man - he is effectively her step-father at this time, as my friend pointed out, for seven years,” Snr Const Rowe said.

“The only reason this is before the court, is she has recorded him in the act because of her concerns, Your Honour.

“I wish you to take those into account also.”

Mr Press noted the defendant had, through his solicitor, expressed remorse but said his behaviour in committing this offence was “appalling” and it required denouncement.

“It’s appalling behaviour from a 47-year-old towards a person that is living in the same house,” Mr Press said.

“There’s an element of trust there, and you have breached that trust here, and you are paying the consequences and have paid the consequences.”

Mr Press placed the man on 18 months’ probation with conditions.

No conviction was recorded.