Tuggerah: Gavin Barrett, 31, of Toukley, sentenced for filming teen boy under cubicle door a cinema
A man who filmed a teenage boy under the door of a cinema toilet cubicle has avoided jail despite being classified as being “above average risk of reoffending”, a court has heard.
Central Coast
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A cleanskin with no criminal history has avoided jail by a slim margin after a court heard he was still classified as being “above average risk of reoffending”.
Gavin Barrett, 31, of Toukley, faced Wyong Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to filming someone in a private act.
His solicitor Luke Del Monte told the court Barrett had demonstrated remorse, had never been charged with any offence before and had “a number of mental health issues at play”.
“It appears to be a spontaneous and opportunistic offence,” Mr Del Monte said.
Court documents state a 14-year-old boy was with family at Event Cinemas at Westfield Tuggerah on March 31 last year, when he went to use the toilet.
About the same time Barrett was captured on CCTV leaving the men’s toilets.
“As the victim approached the entry of the bathroom, the offender turned around and walked back inside the bathroom,” the facts state.
The boy went into a stall, locked the door and began urinating when he saw a “mobile phone to appear from under the bottom of the cubicle”.
“The victim called out ‘What are you doing, what are you doing?’, however the offender did not reply,” the facts state.
As the boy was leaving he saw the door next to him was unlocked so he knocked on it and the door opened.
He saw the offender was fully clothed, holding his phone and sitting on the toilet.
The boy reported it to his family who contacted security who in turn contacted police.
Mr Del Monte said Barrett had made full disclosures to friends and family about what he had done and a number had provided character references, which were tendered in court.
However Mr Del Monte said many of Barrett’s friends had “abandoned him” once he told them of his offending.
The Crown prosecutor said despite Barrett’s previous clean record, any penalty other than full-time custody was “not appropriate” given the seriousness of the offence.
“Children are entitled to use toilet facilities in cinemas with their families without being preyed upon,” the Crown prosecutor said.
Magistrate Justin Peach said Barrett was eligible and would benefit from an “intensive” sexual offenders course to change his behaviour and “stop this from ever happening again”.
But he said the course would take two years to complete in the community or three years in custody. The jurisdictional limit for the Local Court is two years jail for a single offence.
Mr Peach said he was concerned that a sentence assessment report found Barrett was an “above average risk of reoffending” but Corrective Services would not supervise him if he was sentenced to a community-based order.
In the end, Mr Peach convicted Barrett and sentenced him to a three-year community correction order after Community Corrections agreed to supervise him for the duration of the bond.
A condition of the order is that Barrett complete the sex offender program.
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