Man makes and keeps multiple recordings of former partner’s intimate moments with other male

Whanganui's Dean Check hid two cameras in the house he shared with his ex-partner and recorded her sharing intimate moments with another male, the court heard. Photo / 123RF

Dean Check claimed he set up two hidden video cameras so he could monitor who was coming and going from his house, but wound up recording his ex-partner’s intimate moments on the couch.

The Whanganui man set up two separate cameras in June 2022 - one using a laptop with the light covered so his victim was unaware it was recording her, and another in a small tissue box - to surveil the address he shared with his former girlfriend for eight years while he was away at work.

The cameras would record for up to two hours before uploading the footage to a website, but were discovered by the woman six months later, in December, and she reported it to police.

Ten videos had been saved by Check, and six of those were recordings of the woman in compromising situations.

Check appeared before Judge Dugald Matheson in the Whanganui District Court on Wednesday for sentencing on one charge of making an intimate visual recording.

After his arrest Check had initially denied the offending, but later pleaded guilty to the charge.

Defence lawyer Jeremy Seal acknowledged the offending involved a high breach of trust, but said it wasn’t a situation where the camera was in a bathroom or bedroom, it was in the lounge.

Seal said Check had suffered as a result of his offending, losing his job, and his possessions left in the house had been turfed out on to the road.

He sought a sentence of community work and supervision, noting it was not a soft option.

Judge Matheson said Check and his victim had lived together for about eight years and had previously been in a relationship for two years, but it ended six years ago.

He acknowledged Check’s claim there was no perversion involved in his motivation for making the recordings, he just wanted to see who was coming and going from his house.

“He just wanted to know what the victim was doing when he was not at home.”

Check’s victim had taken out a temporary protection order out against him and detailed how his offending had affected her in a statement to the court.

“She felt upset and disgusted at the intrusion on her privacy,” Matheson said.

The domestic situation involving the pair was described as unhealthy, and Check’s supporters claimed there was a high level of dysfunction in the relationship.

Matheson described the offending as a significant and unacceptable breach of trust and wanted to ensure it didn’t happen again.

Check had been suffering from anxiety and depression after being caught, and Matheson sentenced him to community detention for four months along with 12 months’ intensive supervision.

Matheson also ordered Check to attend a non-violence programme and to not associate with or contact the victim.