William Huybregts: Iraq war vet facing new charges
Accused of secretly filming backpackers in the shower using a can of bug spray, he is now facing 160 separate charges by police.
Townsville
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An Iraq war veteran accused of secretly filming travellers showering in his Townsville bathroom is now facing an additional 35 counts - taking the total to 160 charges.
Former James Cook University student association president William Gerardus Rush Huybregts, 47, was originally charged with 124 counts of observations or recordings in breach of privacy – genital or anal region.
On Thursday his lawyer Anthony Sturgeon told Magistrate Steven Mosch that police had just added a further 35 observations or recordings in breach of privacy – genital or anal region.
Plus there was an additional charge of possessing tainted property – making an imposing total of 160 charges against Huybregts.
Mr Sturgeon said Huybregt’s father in America had originally supplied bail surety of $15,000 and the veteran had surrendered his Australian and US passports to authorities in Townsville.
He said all charges now facing Huybregts were ‘similar in nature’.
“The latest charges which were added today (Thursday) are all alleged to have happened prior to bail being granted, and no offence has occurred while he has been on bail,” he said.
Mr Sturgeon said the investigations against his client were ongoing.
Magistrate Mosch extended Huybregts’s bail and adjourned the matter for a mention on December 14.
The fly-in fly-out mining geologist was arrested at Brisbane International Airport attempting to board a flight to Singapore in September after police began investigating the incident.
Police will allege Huybregts hid a motion-sensing camera in a bug spray can in the bathroom of his Townsville home and made scores of recordings of male and female guests showering.
They will allege the original videos depicted 124 separate occasions over a three-year period that a guest was captured showering where their genital regions were captured.
Recordings appeared to be triggered by a motion sensor found hidden in a sandwich bag to avoid moisture damage, police will allege.
Huybregts is allegedly a host on a couch-surfing short-stay accommodation website and police claim he had many people stay at his property as they travelled Australia.
During the initial investigation police alleged that Huybregts appeared cooperative, providing investigators with a roster indicating he would be at work from September 22 to 29.
But on September 27, Townsville detectives were notified Huybregts was at Brisbane International Airport attempting to fly to Singapore.
A Brisbane court then heard that Huybregts had no criminal history, had served in Iraq and Bosnia with US armed forces, had been on his way to Bangkok to visit a friend and had a return to ticket to Australia when he was arrested at the airport.
Originally published as William Huybregts: Iraq war vet facing new charges
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