Australian Defence Force medic Ryan Sulcas caught filming women showering faces court

A registered nurse and member of the Australian Defence Force for nearly two decades has been stood down after he was caught secretly filming women.

Ryan Zenonas Sulcas. Picture: Picryl

A medic in the Australian Defence Force has been reprimanded but escaped the recording of a conviction after secretly filming women while they showered.

Ryan Zenonas Sulcas, 37, of South Australia’s Tranmere faced the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday, March 20 and pleaded guilty to two counts of recording in breach of privacy relating to two different women.

The court heard he filmed the women, one of whom was heavily pregnant, in “vulnerable” settings in Brisbane suburbs McDowall and Zillmere on different dates in 2019.

A family member of Mr Sulcas discovered a recording on his electronic tablet of one of the women showering, completely unaware she was being taped, about a year after the fact.

The registered nurse was confronted and made admissions to the recording. He also admitted to filming a second woman in similar circumstances.

Ryan Zenonas Sulcas, 37, leaves the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday, March 20.

The court heard he called the victim depicted in the video that had been discovered to alert her to the situation.

The Australian Defence Force was notified, investigations ensued, and Mr Sulcas was stood down from service earlier this month.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Grant Klaassen proposed on Monday that Mr Sulcas pay his two victims compensation for the “distress and embarrassment” they may have felt after becoming aware of the recordings.

Mr Sulcas’ lawyer Nick Dore submitted that his client receive a fine and pay his victims $500 each in compensation.

He told the court Mr Sulcas had been a member of the Defence Force for about 19 years and was deployed twice to East Timor – first in 2006 as an engineer and again in 2010 as a medic – but was stood down without pay from March 2 this year.

Mr Dore said the offending was “deliberate but not sophisticated” and involved his client leaving an iPad in the bathroom while the women showered at a time when he was isolated from his family and dealing with symptoms of a major depressive disorder.

Australian Army nurse Corporal Ryan Sulcas.

The court heard Mr Sulcas believed he had deleted both of the videos when he had in fact only deleted one.

Mr Dore argued his client had entered early pleas of guilty, had assisted the prosecution “significantly”, and had been transparent with both the Defence Force and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency about what he did.

Magistrate Julian Noud described Mr Sulcas’ covert recordings of women in very vulnerable conditions as examples of the “most repugnant behaviour” and an affront to the community’s shared values.

He acknowledged he entered early pleas of guilty, had no criminal history, served his country internationally, and that he had recently been stood down by his employer, as well as that he wished to continue working as a medic in the Defence Force, when deciding an appropriate penalty.

“The view that I have ultimately formed, Mr Sulcas, in this case is that I don’t consider that a fine would adequately meet the needs of deterrence and denunciation,” Mr Noud said.

“It was repulsive behaviour (against) women, one pregnant, in vulnerable positions.”

Mr Sulcas was placed on six months’ probation and ordered to pay $500 compensation to each of his victims. No conviction was recorded.