A former University of Wollongong psychology student who filmed up a fellow student’s skirt for more than an hour in the campus library last October still can’t say what prompted him to do it, a court has heard.
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Nicholas Toso, 20, said he was sorry for what he’d done but couldn’t explain his actions during an interview with a NSW Community Corrections officer tasked with preparing a sentencing options reports for his court appearance on Tuesday.
The court heard Toso and the victim were sitting in neighbouring study booths when Toso took advantage of the woman’s partially open legs to film up her skirt on October 15 last year.
The woman noticed Toso acting suspiciously with his phone in hand as she got up to leave about an hour later and informed the librarian.
The matter was subsequently reported to police, who later released a CCTV image of Toso, prompting him to turn himself in and confess to the crime.
He pleaded guilty in court in February to a single charge of filming a person’s private parts without consent.
Magistrate Geraldine Beattie ordered the options report at the time, noting the seriousness of the case.
In court on Tuesday, she sentenced him to a three-year good-behaviour bond and imposed a $2,000 fine.
“It’s certainly a shameful, disgraceful act...a gross invasion of that woman’s privacy,” Magistrate Beattie said.
“One would think that a person with such intelligence as yourself, who is studying psychology, would have a better sense of how to treat your fellow human beings.”
She ordered the bond include supervision by Community Corrections, saying she wanted Toso to see a forensic psychologist, who would determine if he needed to be placed into a sex offender’s program.
Earlier in the proceedings, defence lawyer Grace Prosperi said Toso was extremely sorry for his behaviour, and had openly told her he would regret his actions “for the rest of his life”.
She also said he’d written a letter of apology to the victim.
“He describes the incident as something he’s deeply ashamed of...for the embarrassment he’s brought on himself and his family, and for the embarrassment caused to the victim,” Ms Prosperi said.
“He fully appreciates and fully understands that recording the woman was the wrong thing to do; he came to that realisation almost immediately.
“He can’t explain why he acted that way and has engaged with a psychologist to help him understand the basis for his behaviour.
Ms Prosperi confirmed Toso had recently transferred to the Australian Catholic University.
