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Last updated: March 21, 2012

Father secretly filmed teenage daughters in family bathroom

by: Court Reporter Hannah Silverman
From: AdelaideNow March 19, 2012 12:50pm

A FATHER who set up a secret camera in his bathroom to film his teenage daughters in the shower cannot explain why he did it.

The man, who cannot be named, has pleaded guilty to one aggravated count of possessing child pornography and one count of engaging in indecent filming of a minor.

His crimes, which included more than 2000 computer files, were detected during a police raid in June.

In the District Court today, the man, 50, sat in the dock with his head hung during the majority of his sentencing submissions.

Michael Lutt, for the man, told the court his client was having marriage difficulties when he began to spend considerable time online.

This, he said, led to the viewing of pornography.

"The defendant was considerably conflicted by his own conduct," he said.

"On two occasions he actually threw his hard drive away only to drift back into looking at images again."

Mr Lutt said the man filmed four separate incidents in his bathroom, which were later located on his computer, along with a collection of downloaded images.

"The defendant admits he set up a camera in the family bathroom of the home," he said.

"He is essentially unable to explain what it was that motivated him to engage in this behaviour."

Robert Ford, prosecuting, said the seriousness of the offending did not warrant a suspended prison sentence.

He described the offending as containing "sinister overtones".

The man was remanded in custody and will be sentenced next week.