A still image taken from a video of a customer confronting shop attendants at Mobile Planet in Sylvia Park Shopping Centre on July 10 last year for allegedly trying to download intimate photographs from the phone she brought in for repair.
A still image taken from a video of a customer confronting shop attendants at Mobile Planet in Sylvia Park Shopping Centre on July 10 last year for allegedly trying to download intimate photographs from the phone she brought in for repair.
A Sylvia Park kiosk employee faced up to five years’ imprisonment for attempting to AirDrop an intimate photo from a customer’s phone.
Judge Grant Fraser discharged the 27-year-old without conviction, citing potential deportation and safety risks from returning him to Sri Lanka.
The defendant was ordered to pay $1500 in emotional harm reparation to the victim.
A worker at a mobile phone repair kiosk in Auckland’s popular Sylvia Park shopping centre faced up to five years’ imprisonment today after admitting he tried to send himself an intimate photo from a customer’s phone.
The scheme backfired in a big way for the 27-year-old - first when he was confronted by the customer, who got a notification that an AirDrop attempt of the photo had failed. Then again when a video of the confrontation was posted on social media and spread quickly.
The employee lost his job after the incident and was later denied a licence to work as a security guard. He has been unemployed since then and has now overstayed his visa as Immigration New Zealand awaited the outcome of the case.
But he caught a significant break today as he appeared in Auckland District Court for sentencing. Judge Grant Fraser decided a discharge without conviction was the best outcome, along with permanent name suppression.
The consequence otherwise, the judge said, would almost certainly have been deportation to Sri Lanka, where he would face a genuine threat to his safety for dishonouring his family name.
The man’s safety would be at further risk, Judge Fraser said, if a name was put to the viral video post - “likely continuing the social media scrum of scorn and abuse”, including a large number of racist comments.
The customer’s confrontation with the employee, in July last year, was viewed more than 1 million times on TikTok and was shared on other social media sites. It showed the irate victim insisting on an explanation from the defendant’s manager as the defendant stood quietly in the background.
The incident happened at Mobile Planet in Auckland's Sylvia Park.
At the end of the video, the defendant appeared to faint.
Court documents state the victim had handed her iPhone to the Mobile Planet kiosk about 12.30pm on July 10, wanting the camera fixed before she went on holiday.
Another employee took her information, including her phone access code, and told her to return in 45 minutes.
“She inquired why her Pin number was required and was told it was to check the camera function after it was fixed,” the agreed summary of facts for the case states.
The defendant then scrolled through her photos and used the Apple AirDrop function - used to send files wirelessly between nearby phones - to send a nude photo of the customer to himself.
In the customer’s TikTok video, it was explained that the victim had taken the photo years ago for a partner, and the worker would have needed to scroll for quite some time to find it.
After collecting her phone, the woman received a message that an AirDrop attempt had failed. The notification included a thumbnail photo of the intimate image.
“The victim gave the staff of Mobile Planet permission to access her phone for the purpose of fixing her camera,” authorities noted in the summary of facts. “She did not give the defendant permission to view her photographs and attempt to obtain the photographs, which are her property.”
The defendant accepted his behaviour was wrong and was grateful that his attempt to AirDrop the photo failed, his lawyer said.
The defendant, who has no previous criminal history, pleaded guilty to trying to access a computer system for dishonest purposes.
“He accepts this is wrong. He is deeply remorseful for it,” said defence lawyer Sarah Baird, who described her client as an “otherwise exemplary young man who has made a mistake”.
Since then, she said, he had tried to pay back the community for the “momentary lapse in judgment” by volunteering at Auckland City Mission for more than 100 hours.
Police opposed the defendant’s application for a discharge without conviction, but were neutral about his application for permanent name suppression. News media opposed suppression, noting the futility of trying to contain the video, which was already widely distributed and showed his face.
The victim, who did not attend the hearing, also opposed the requests. In a written victim impact statement referred to by the judge, she said she continued to feel anxiety in public spaces. The incident, she said, triggered “past trauma of men taking advantage of me”. She had trouble trusting people even in a professional environment.
“She said she should not have to live with the violation while you walk away without consequences,” Judge Fraser noted.
Judge Grant Fraser, photographed at Napier District Court in 2011. Photo / Duncan Brown
But the judge also pointed to defence submissions that the defendant came from a respected family in Sri Lanka, where family honour played a big part in the culture. He feared emotional rejection, long-term isolation and physical violence if his family were to find out about the case, the court was told.
The judge referred to the defendant’s explanation that he came across the photo by accident and decided to send it to himself “out of foolish curiosity and poor judgment”. The defendant said he was thankful the attempt failed.
“There is absolutely no doubt that you are experiencing remorse,” Judge Fraser said, adding that the defendant had been assessed as having a low likelihood of reoffending.
“The consequences [of name publication] for you are enormous.”
The judge ordered the defendant to pay $1500 in emotional harm reparation to the victim. He acknowledged, however, that the defendant wouldn’t have the ability to pay it all until he got a job.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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