SPRUNG: Bao cafe owner pleads guilty, fined after filming housemate in shower

A Hobart cafe owner has to cough up thousands after he was caught secretly recording his male housemate in the shower. FULL STORY >>

A cafe owner has to cough up thousands of dollars after his plan to secretly record his male housemate in the shower failed when the victim saw the camera glinting in the laundry basket.

Tzu-Chao Chen, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of recording another person’s anal or genital region in the Hobart Magistrates Court on Thursday.

The prosecutor told the court the victim was getting out of the shower in February this year when he noticed a glint in the clothes basket nearby.

Smartphone

“A phone had been concealed under clothes and had appeared to be directly (angled) towards the shower,” the prosecutor said.

The victim noticed the phone was recording a video, which had been running for nearly two hours.

He watched the video back and it showed him fully naked, capturing his anal and genital area.

“The video also captured the victim masturbating,” the prosecutor said.

The tenant found earlier recordings showing Chen setting up the camera and making sure it faced the shower.

Large shower head spraying water.

The victim, who was renting a room from Chen and was set to move out the week after the incident, deleted the recording and took the phone to Hobart Police Station.

When Chen was confronted about the phone, he told the victim “don’t tell anyone, how much money do you need? Do you want cash?”

Chen later voluntarily attended the police station and said he didn’t know why he filmed his housemate, but he felt guilty and planned to donate to charity to make up for his conduct.

The defence lawyer said Chen was remorseful and had learned from his mistake.

Tasmania Police.

“He’s 32-years-old and this is his first offence,” Chen’s lawyer said.

She said Chen came to Australia some ten years ago on a workers’ visa and was supporting local employees running his business.

“He has recognised that he needs to avoid any further incidents and offences,” Chen’s lawyer said.

According to ASIC documents and state liquor licence registers, Chen is the sole trader and licensee for Abel Land, a Hobart cafe offering bao and Taiwanese and Thai cuisine.

Chen’s lawyer asked Magistrate Reg Marron not to record a conviction, as it could impact his visa and his business.

Mr Marron noted Chen’s “exhaustive character references” and psychologist report.

“I’m pretty confident that this is a one-off event,” Mr Marron said.

“The conduct that’s engaged (in) is of course a gross invasion of privacy.

“In a sharehouse such as that, that type of behaviour is, as I say, completely unacceptable.”

Mr Marron fined Chen $5000 and did not record a conviction.

He approved the police prosecutor’s request to dispose of the phone.