A magistrate has issued an arrest warrant for a University of Wollongong student accused of secretly filming his three female flatmates in the shower.
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Rico Auliaputra, a 25-year-old Indonesian national studying for a degree in internet technology, failed to front Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday to answer a charge of filming a person in a private act without consent.
His absence prompted Magistrate Michael Stoddart to record a conviction and issue a warrant for Auliaputra’s arrest.
Police documents tendered to the court during the proceedings said the three women were home alone inside the CBD unit they shared with Auliaputra on the night of October 28 last year when one of them noticed a green flashing light coming from a yellow sponge sitting on the floor of the bathroom.
Upon inspection, the women found a small camera with an SD card, which had been inserted into a slit in the sponge. A power cord extending out of the camera led to a battery pack hidden under the vanity.
The women called Auliaputra who arrived at the unit 30 minutes later. They all agreed to watch what was on the SD card, but then decided to wait for police to arrive first.
However, unbeknownst to the three women, Auliaputra removed the SD card from the camera and threw it off the balcony before the officers arrived.
He then denied knowledge of its whereabouts when questioned by police.
A week later, one of the women discovered a charger and a USB flash drive in Auliaputra’s bedroom and upon carrying out a search on Ebay, discovered they were part of a pack that included the same type of camera found in the sponge.
The women confronted Auliaputra, who admitted his crimes.
He was arrested by police in February and during a subsequent interview, confessed to setting up the camera in the unit with the intention of watching his flatmates in the shower.