Peter Stojanovski: Arncliffe father charged with upskirting a 14 year old school girl on Wolli Creek train

An Arncliffe man who allegedly used his phone to take photos of a 14-year-old girl under her skirt on the train at Wolli Creek last week has told a court the incident was a “misunderstanding”.

A father-of-two allegedly took photos up a schoolgirl’s skirt while on the train at Wolli Creek last week, a court has heard.

Peter Peco Stojanovski, 47, appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday following his arrest on Monday afternoon.

The Arncliffe man has been charged with intentionally recording an intimate image without consent of a 14-year-old girl in her school uniform and filming a person’s private parts without consent to obtain sexual arousal.

Police allege Stojanovski “upskirted” the girl about 3.45pm on Friday while on the train at Wolli Creek.

An Arncliffe man who allegedly used his phone to take photos of a girl under her skirt on the train at Wolli Creek last week has told a court the incident was a ‘misunderstanding’. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

The court heard Stojanovski was allegedly holding a mobile phone with the back-facing camera pointed up while he was holding it under the girl’s skirt before the flash went off.

Police further allege Stojanovski removed the phone while covering the screen with both hands, checked it then again positioned the phone with the camera pointed under the girl’s skirt and the flash again went off.

Police allege Stojanovski did this for sexual arousal or gratification.

It is not known how the alleged incident was brought to the attention of police.

Stojanovski’s lawyer told the court the incident was a “misunderstanding”, a claim a police prosecutor said was not supported by the statement of facts.

The prosecutor opposed Stojanovski being granted bail, noting the alleged incident was “calculated and predatory behaviour of a person of a vulnerable age”.

Peter Stojanovski appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday.

Stojanovski’s lawyer said, during a bail application, the strength of the prosecution case was still to be determined and her client “vehemently” denied the allegations.

The lawyer said Stojanovski was not a person “of good character” given his criminal history but noted he had not been charged in 10 years and there were no similar offences on his record.

She said a full-time custodial sentence was not inevitable if he was convicted and Stojanovski would likely be on remand until a hearing date next year.

The lawyer said Stojanovski had two young boys, coached footy teams and had a variety of obligations in the community.

She said her client could live at his home in Arncliffe, report to police, not enter a train station, not have a mobile phone with a camera, and his wife could provide monetary surety.

Magistrate Clare Farnan said the “community absolutely abhors” that type of allegation, noting the offending was frequently “very difficult to detect”.

She said the prosecution case appeared strong with the 14-year-old girl not known to Stojanovski and the upskirting allegedly occuring on a train in public.

Magistrate Farnan said there was unacceptable risk of Stojanovski endangering the safety of the community if released from custody and refused bail.

The case was adjourned to September 13.