Cameron Francis pleads guilty to wilful exposure after being caught masturbating in public
A Gold Coast man caught performing a disgusting act on three occasions gave a bizarre excuse for being naked in public, a court has heard.
Crime and Court
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A FORMER boiler maker caught masturbating in public three times claimed he should be allowed to because women wear skimpy bikinis.
Cameron Francis, 34, pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court today to more than 20 charges, including three counts of wilful exposure.
Francis was first caught pleasuring himself in public on September 1 last year when he exposed his penis on a Gold Coast train.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Nilan Lynch said Francis approached a woman on the train to the Gold Coast, exposed himself and began masturbating as he stood next to her.
Police caught Francis at Robina train station where they found him to be intoxicated.
Sgt Lynch said Francis told officers he had recently injected the drug ice.
Almost a year later members of the public spotted Francis naked and masturbating at the Broadwater Parklands just after 2pm on August 16.
Sgt Lynch said a six-year-old girl on the footpath had spotted Francis and run off when she saw him.
“Francis stated he was naked and did not see any issue as females are allowed to wear skimpy swimming attire,” she said.
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The court was told Francis was next spotted masturbating in public on The Esplanade at Surfers Paradise just before 5am on September 14.
Sgt Nilan said a council worker had spotted him naked and called police.
Francis was clothed when police arrived but admitted the gross act.
“He stated he has a problem and is trying to get help for it,” she said.
Sgt Nilan told the court in the past year Francis had been caught carrying a knife walking past Coomera State School, with drugs on number of occasions and trying to break into a roller door at a Hungry Jacks.
Magistrate Mark Howden described the public sex acts as “concerning”.
The maximum penalty for wilful exposure is a fine.
“I can’t place him on probation although I do consider (the offences) to be of a concerning and persistent nature which has now been going on for a year,” he said.
Magistrate Howden fined Francis $1000.
He placed Francis on probation for 18 months for the other charges.
Francis’s lawyer Joe Wicking, of Howden Saggers Lawyers, said Francis had a problem with ice.
He said he was a trained boiler maker and currently looking for work.
Mr Wicking told the court Francis first took ice in 2016 after his business making recycling equipment failed.
Francis’s acts breached a suspended sentence he was placed on in the Supreme Court in 2016 for trafficking drugs.
He was committed to the Supreme Court for breaching that sentence.
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