A Dunedin man who filmed women showering and stole underwear has been sentenced to eight months' home detention and ordered to pay compensation to his victims.
Rowan Blackbourn, a 20-year-old student, appeared in Dunedin District Court this week after pleading guilty to five counts of burglary and three of making intimate visual recordings, the Otago Daily Times reports.
Mr Blackbourn was caught three months after his crime spree began after dropping his phone and wallet at the scene on October 20.
The Otago Polytechnic student broke into a Queen Street property and stole two pairs of underwear before breaking into a neighbouring flat where the man was caught folding a pair of woman's underwear when she woke up, causing the man to flee.
Mr Blackbourn dropped his phone and the stolen underwear in the home, before dropping his wallet while clambering over a fence.
"I was suffering from major depression and stress-related issues," Mr Blackbourn told the Otago Daily Times.
"I am still unsure to this day why I did it."
The student began in Maori Hill in July last year when he filmed a woman in a flat showering and getting dressed, placing the video in a folder named "the goods".
Three weeks later, Mr Blackbourn was just metres away from the scene of his prior crime, on Lachlan Ave, when he filmed a woman showering through a window which was left ajar.
The 84-second video ended when the victim yelled after noticing the student kneeling outside her home, causing him to run home where he viewed the footage.
Mr Blackbourn's behaviour continued to escalate when the man filmed his flatmate's friend showering and, later, his flatmate in the nude, by hiding his phone in a toilet bag.
In September, the 20-year-old broke into a flat and stole three pairs of womens underwear drying on a laundry rack, he stuffed the garments in his pocket and left when he heard movement from upstairs.
The garments were later disposed of.
It was clear the man had "used them" while watching the ilicit videos, Judge Kevin Phillips said.
Defence counsel Noel Rayner argued that the offending had taken place when Mr Blackbourn was intoxicated.
"He may have been drinking but was capable of what he was doing in a stealthy way," Judge Phillips said.
"You made the alarming comment to Probation that you got away with it, so you continued to do it."
The judge said Mr Blackbourn was remorseless but the former student, now employed at a freezing works, denied it, saying he was "fully regretful and sincerely sorry to all the victims".
Mr Blackbourn, who did not see himself as "a pervert" but feared others would, said coming clean to his flatmates over the secretly-filmed shower tapes was the "hardest and most embarrassing experience of my life".
Judge Phillips sentenced Mr Blackbourn to eight months' home detention and was ordered to pay $700 to eight victims, including more than $100 to the bill for the stolen underwear.
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