ACT police officers' racist comments risk damaging Australia's relationship with China: lawyer

Australian National University student Junqi Huang wants a written apology from the officers who vilified him, while he is also seeking that they be individually "identified, punished appropriately and re-educated".

The 23-year-old former ANU Super Brain Society president was on Thursday found guilty of attempting intimate observations or attempting to capture visual data in an invasion of privacy.

He had denied the charge, which was laid after he planted a hidden camera in an ANU shower in June last year.

When Huang's contested hearing began in May, The Canberra Times revealed the investigators who had seized the small, cube-shaped device took it to City Police Station inside a rubber glove.

It sat on a desk there, continuing to record, as at least five police officers watched the videos it had captured prior to its seizure.

Some of the clips, filmed about two weeks earlier, showed Huang testing the device in various locations and exposing himself to it.

The police officers who watched these recordings could be heard saying things like "that is a f---ing tiny dick", "it's penis time", and "I have a micro penis".

One of them even put on a mock accent while remarking "he so Asian", while the suggestion was made that Huang had been "lodged on a bullshit charge".

In a recent complaint to Australian Federal Police Professional Standards, Huang's solicitor, Peter Woodhouse, called the behaviour of the officers involved "offensive and racist".

"The conduct should not be condoned at any level, and it calls for a thorough investigation and condign punishment," he wrote.

Mr Woodhouse also suggested the episode could have wide-reaching ramifications.

"The disparaging comments about my client's penis size, the racist comments (including the mock Asian accent) and comments about the 'bullshit charge' undermine the public confidence in the AFP and policing in the territory," he wrote.

"This conduct also risks causing considerable damage to the Australian/Chinese relationship and damage to the economic interests of Australia, given the considerable economic benefit gained from international students studying at Australian universities, especially from China."

AFP Professional Standards has started investigating the remarks, which Special Magistrate Jane Campbell called "clearly inappropriate" as she found Huang guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon.

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Ms Campbell ultimately accepted prosecutor Erin Priestly's argument that various pieces of circumstantial evidence combined to prove it was the 23-year-old who had planted the hidden camera with the intention of filming others in private acts.

She rejected defence barrister Kieran Ginges' suggestion that it might have been someone else.

He had argued that, while Huang obviously had control of the device at stages prior to its discovery, it may have been "circulating around" an unknown group of ANU students.

Ms Campbell said she planned to sentence Huang, who remains on bail, next Thursday.

The court heard the 23-year-old planned to move back to China as soon as possible.

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