Canberra woman humiliated by 'predatory' housemate's hidden camera, phone spying

She read a powerful statement in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday as the offender, who is not being named for legal reasons, was locked up until Boxing Day.

The man, 31, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of capturing visual data in an invasion of privacy, having illegally recorded 842 videos and pictures of the victim during their time living together last year in Canberra's inner north.

He started by hiding a small spy camera in a shoe rack within the victim's walk-in wardrobe.

It stayed there for more than three months before the victim found it and confronted him.

The offender denied any knowledge of it and threw the device in their kitchen bin, only for it to mysteriously disappear from there within 20 minutes while the victim was not looking.

Apparently undeterred by the victim's suspicions about him spying on her, the offender switched tactics and resorted to using his mobile phone.

He poked this through doors, including that of the victim's bathroom, to record things he found sexually gratifying.

The offending lasted more than six months in total, only coming to an end when the victim spotted the man's arm extending the phone into her room while she was in bed one night.

This proved the trigger for her to report him to police, prompting an investigation that uncovered the hundreds of illegally captured files.

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The material, which magistrate Glenn Theakston described as "particularly distasteful", ranged from showing the victim sleeping to her being completely nude.

In her statement on Wednesday, the victim described feeling "emotionally exhausted" because she now constantly looked around for cameras in private moments.

"This is not how I'm meant to live my life, but you made this the reality for me," the woman told the offender.

She added that she had been left unable to trust anyone because of what had happened to her.

Defence lawyer Tom Taylor conceded his client's offending was serious.

But he urged the court to take into account things including that the man had already lost his job as a direct result of these offences being discovered.

Mr Taylor said the man spoke five languages and had worked in the intelligence sector, but his security clearance had been cancelled and his career prospects were now "reduced".

The lawyer added that his client suffered from a personality disorder that had "programmed him to not say how he feels".

Mr Taylor said the man had been attracted to the victim but was "hyper-sensitive to rejection", prompting feelings of "hopelessness" and depression around the relevant time.

He told the court while the offender was not seeking to minimise his behaviour, his moral culpability was reduced by his mental health issues.

Prosecutor Ryan Roberts argued a sentence of imprisonment was necessary, saying it was "difficult to imagine ... a more serious example of this type of offending conduct".

Mr Roberts told the court the crimes involved the offender, motivated by sexual gratification, breaching the trust of a woman who had considered him a friend.

There was a degree of sophistication and planning, the prosecutor added, pointing out that multiple devices were used and the hidden camera was moved into different positions prior to its discovery, demonstrating the man's "ongoing commitment" to the offending.

"[The victim] should have felt safe in her friendship and in her own home," Mr Roberts said.

Mr Theakston ultimately imposed a four-month jail sentence, to be suspended after half that time, saying this sort of offending reflected a kind of modern "evil".

He warned people who might be tempted to dabble in the use of hidden cameras they faced the prospect of time behind bars for using technology to violate the privacy of others.

The magistrate also imposed a 12-month good behaviour order, which will take effect upon the 31-year-old's release from custody.

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