Wayd Millar, a former Young Citizen of the Year recipient, admitted covertly recording two women in the bathroom of their home in Cootamaundra in January this year, before videoing a 17-year-old girl taking a shower at a home in Albion Park in March.

On each occasion Millar positioned his mobile phone with a view into the bathroom of the respective homes and set it to record, unbeknownst to the women who were about to use it.

Millar was charged with seven counts of filming a person in a private act without consent, to which he pleaded guilty in Wollongong Local Court.

On Friday, Magistrate Michael Stoddart imposed a 12-month suspended prison sentence and ordered Millar to pay a $14,000 fine, labelling his behaviour “disgraceful”.

“These young people have been violated...goodness knows what’s going to be on their minds in the future, they have to live with this,” he said.

“People should feel safe in their own homes and you violated that.”

Police prosecutor Sergeant Rob Casey had urged the court to impose a full-time prison sentence, saying Millar’s offences had a degree of planning and required “sneakiness” on his behalf.

However, defence lawyer Justine Hall said Millar had accepted that his actions were “a clear and direct” invasion of privacy and understood the gravity of what he’d done.

She said a suspended sentence, along with the public humiliation he had experienced since the allegations were made public, would act as a significant deterrence to prevent reoffending.

“He has recognised what he did was wrong...[and] grossly inappropriate,” she said.

“Prior to this he was a man of good character.

“He’s truly remorseful and has good prospects of rehabilitation.”