Ellery Hulme, 33, fronts Ringwood court after taking upskirt images of teen on bus

A good Samaritan snatched the phone off a Croydon father-of-five caught using the camera to zoom into the crotch of a teenage commuter in a skirt.

Hulme was caught by public transport safety officers at the Bayswater train station. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

A Croydon father-of-five moved seats on a bus to take an upskirt image of a teenager before a good Samaritan commuter snatched his phone out of his hand.

Ellery Hulme, 33, fronted the Ringwood Magistrates Court on Wednesday, pleading guilty to taking the inappropriate image.

Hulme, who was supported in court by his partner, caught a train replacement bus on the Belgrade line on June 9 last year.

The court heard an 18-year-old girl was sitting with her friends on the same bus.

She was huddled up listening to music with a friend, sitting with her knees up and her feet on her own chair.

Ellery Hulme

Hulme, who the court heard was already on the Victorian sex offenders’ registry, moved seats on the empty bus to directly across from the teenager and her friends.

He sat with his back on the window and his feet pointing towards the victim.

Hulme pulled up his hoodie, took out his phone and opened Snapchat.

He then proceeded to zoom into the teenager’s crotch area and up her skirt.

The camera was focused on the victim’s underwear.

Hulme then snapped the picture.

Another commuter observed Hulme’s suspicious behaviour and filmed the entire incident, including capturing video footage of the photo taken by Hulme.

The Good Samaritan then snatched Hulme’s phone out of his hand and contacted police and public transport safety officers.

“Give me my phone back,” Hulme said.

“I’ll delete it.”

The commuter deleted the image off Hulme’s phone.

When the bus came to a stop Hulme rushed off the bus to meet the officers, asking for them to get his phone back.

Hulme told the officers he was trying to take his daily Snapchat streaks image of his feet and “did not know” the teenager’s underwear was in the shot.

“I understand how it looks,” he said.

“Can you just give me my phone back?”

The court heard Hulme, who is an audio visual technician, admitted taking the images.

He was convicted and ordered to pay a $1800 fine.