Man pleads guilty to using ‘pen camera’ to spy on female housemates

A man has pleaded guilty to spying on his three female housemates with a hidden camera as they showered.

A Chilean man who used a tiny camera to spy on his three female housemates as they showered in their suburban Sydney home has been called “cowardly” by one of the women he spied on.

Luis Alberto Cancino Mena, 39, faced Waverley Local Court in Sydney on Thursday morning after pleading guilty to three seperate charges of filming a person without their consent.

Mena was living in a sharehouse in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs with three young women when police allege he began filming them without their consent in the only shared bathroom in their home.

Sarah has referred to Mena’s actions as “cowardly”. Photo: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

One of the women, who has elected to go by the name “Sarah”, attended the hearing on Thursday, and spoke to media outside court, labelling her former housemate a “coward”.

“It’s probably the highest violation you can have in your home... someone in private areas where you don’t expect cameras to be,” she said.

“I don’t want to see this person ever again, or have anything to do with him.”

Sarah said being in Mena’s presence in court was “a little nerve wracking,” but that “there’s nothing to be ashamed of”.

“I want to be brave in the scenario, and speak up... not only for me, but for other women.”

Sarah addresses the media outside Waverley Courthouse. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

According to court documents, Mena’s behaviour went undetected for months until the cleaners contracted by his landlord stumbled upon the device in early February.

“The cleaners... were cleaning the bathroom before locating a recording camera device which was in the shape of a pen,” police said.

“The storage device card was accessed by the cleaners and they observed recording files of the victims with no clothes on, taking a shower. They also observed files of themselves cleaning the bathroom.”

The cleaners handed the device over to the landlord, who took it to the police station a few days later.

Mena covered his face as he tried to avoid the media on Thursday. Photo: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Police say one recording “clearly shows the accused setting the camera up in the bathroom”.

After arresting Mena and searching the home, police seized the man’s laptop where they found folders marked under the names of the victims.

Footage taken from the hidden camera had been catalogued based on who it was recording, and was then placed into the folder allocated to that person.

Police said Mena had confessed he “had been recording videos in the bathroom of the house for 2-3 months”.

Mena was seen leaving the courthouse with a mask obscuring his face.

The matter was adjourned by the magistrate, and Mena is now expected to be sentenced on August 6th.

Originally published as Man pleads guilty to using ‘pen camera’ to spy on female housemates