A UOW student who hid a camera inside a household sponge in a bid to film his female flatmates in the shower will learn his fate at Wollongong courthouse next month.
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Rico Auliaputra was expected to be sentenced in Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday, however the matter was adjourned after the magistrate received a report advising Auliputra had been deemed unsuitable for community service, due to health issues.
Auliaputra’s lawyer, Claire Carpenter, called for an adjournment, saying the health issue had since been resolved and Auliaputra may yet be eligible for community service.
“The incident referred to [in the report] was a one-off incident that came about as a result of a the shame of his experience from being before the court,” Ms Carpenter said.
Magistrate Michael Stoddart replied: “The shame of doing what he did – that’s where the shame was. He just got caught – that was his problem – he wasn’t as smart as he thought he was.”
Auliaputra, a 25-year-old Indonesian national studying for a degree in internet technology, was charged with filming a person in a private act without consent, after one of his three flatmates noticed a green flashing light coming from a sponge left on the bathroom floor of their Wollongong CBD apartment the night of October 28 last year.
Upon inspection, the woman found a small camera with an SD card inserted inside. A power cord extending out of the camera led to a battery pack hidden under the vanity.
The matter will return to court on June 5.