Man sentenced after ‘gross’ housemate act

A Chilean man will be sentenced after he filmed his three female housemates inside their share house in an affluent Sydney suburb.

A Chilean national will be sentenced after police discovered he had been secretly filming three of his female housemates in their share house in an affluent Sydney suburb.

The intimate footage captured included the women in the bathroom and their bedroom, none of whom were aware they were being filmed until after they had moved out.

Luis Alberto Cancino Mena, 39, had installed a hidden camera in their shared bathroom, including the shower, as well as in one of their bedrooms, according to ABC.

Luis Alberto Cancino Mena leaves Waverley Local Court. Picture: Madeleine Damo/The Daily Telegraph

The covert recording device

Court documents revealed how the gross breach of privacy came to light.

Cleaners at the home discovered a pen containing a hidden camera on the bathroom floor, sometime after the tenants had moved out.

After pulling the device apart, they found out it was recording.

Then, after finding a storage card inside, they found files of themselves cleaning the bathroom and a woman having a shower.

The property owner took this to the police, where they found recordings of Cancino setting up the camera.

He subsequently confessed to his actions when questioned by police.

The documents also revealed that Cancino had folders on his laptop labelled with the names of the women, which included videos of them.

None of the women gave Cancino consent to film them.

One of the former housemates speaks to reporters outside Waverley local court. Picture: Madeleine Damo/The Daily Telegraph

Cancino pleads guilty

Cancino pleaded guilty on Thursday to three counts of intentionally recording intimate video/image without consent.

Records show he is in Australia on a temporary visa, which is set to expire soon.

His passport has been seized by police, and he has told police he intended to return to Chile and not come back to Australia.

He had been due to be sentenced on Thursday, but the case was adjourned until July after the defence lawyer raised a “significant issue” with the statement of facts outside court.

Now, one of the women has told ABC that the delay was “disappointing” and she wants to see him deported.

Mena will remain on bail with his case scheduled to return to Waverley Local Court on 8 July.

How common is this?

According to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), there were 422 finalised charges related to recording or threatening to record intimate images without consent in 2024.

This is a rise from the previous year, with 267 finalised charges in 2023.

Originally published as Man sentenced after ‘gross’ housemate act