‘Urine fetish’: Health worker’s Blue Card bid rejected after phone hidden above urinals

A Queensland health professional who hid his phone in the ceiling of a men’s toilet while at uni and recorded a student at the urinals has failed in his bid to work with children in this state.

Toilet

A Queensland health professional who told police he hid his phone in the men’s urinals and recorded a student because he had a “urine fetish” while at university, has failed in his bid to work with children in this state.

The man, whose name has been suppressed from publication, was busted on April 3, 2018 when an adult student found the now-29-year-old medical worker’s phone on record and “lodged in the ceiling” of the men’s toilets.

The man, who kept the incident a secret from his family and partner, later went to the security desk to ask about his “lost phone” that he placed in the ceiling above the urinal at 11am that day.

When police searched his phone they found a video of the man placing his phone in the ceiling, and it clearly showed his face.

A second video captures the male’s penis and him urinating.

There were four videos in total on the hidden phone.

Details of the filming were revealed in a decision handed down by Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal member Talitha Burson on Christmas Eve.

Ms Burson ruled that the man could not be given a blue card.

The health professional told police he hid his phone in the toilets.

“The nature of the offence had a high level of deceptive conduct and was extremely intrusive in nature,” she stated.

The man, then aged 22, pleaded guilty to a charge of engaging in indecent filming – person over 17 years minor.

No conviction was recorded and he was given a $500 good behaviour bond to be of good behaviour for a year.

During an interview with police, he said he had a urine fetish, which is why he put the phone on record, above the male urinal at the university, and he knew this was a crime and he was sorry.

He took his case to the tribunal in a bid to overturn the 2023 decision by the Department of Justice and Attorney-General to refuse his application for a “working with children check” known as a ‘Blue Card’.

He told the tribunal he has received an equivalent working with children check in a number of other states.

He told the tribunal that he needed a Blue Card for “continued training in his chosen professional field” in Queensland.

“The offence was a breach of privacy, in an area where people have a high expectation of privacy. (He) placed a recording device in a ceiling, surreptitiously and deliberately recording people using a urinal. There were four videos. (He) was indiscriminate in his recording and could not know that children would not be recorded whilst undertaking this recording,” Ms Burson noted.

The man had not told his partner about the urinal recording, the tribunal heard.

Originally published as ‘Urine fetish’: Health worker’s Blue Card bid rejected after phone hidden above urinals