Another bride has spoken out about the alleged state of a controversial West Auckland property, saying she also noticed a covert camera and claimed there were maggots inside the house and that 30-50 chickens on the grounds had left poo around.
The 28-year-old bride, who did not want to be named, decided to come forward after reading about the experience of newlyweds Shannell Henderson and Jimmy Fitzpatrick at the weekend who discovered a camera hidden in a lightbulb at the rural cottage on Waitakere Rd.
Fitzpatrick believed if the camera had been on it was an "invasion of the girls' privacy," not only of the bridesmaids but also his two young daughters aged 3 and 6 who got changed in the home.
Henderson's bridesmaid Sarah Muir has since laid complaints with both police and the Privacy Commissioner over the camera.
The owner, Ting Zhou, also known as Tim, told Newshub the camera was not on and he only installed it to monitor burglaries when no one was home.
He'd previously told the Herald it was only for security purposes when the property was unoccupied.
Zhou says he never had the camera turned on when people were there.
He insisted there were signs on the windows saying a camera was inside, but Newshub could not find anything visible.
Meanwhile, the second bride who contacted the Herald after reading about the couple's experience said she had just returned from her honeymoon and was preparing a complaint to Booking.com, the agency where the house is booked from.
The Auckland woman said she had booked the home for two nights with herself arriving several hours after her bridesmaids.
She claimed her bridesmaids had spent at least two hours cleaning the house before she got there after they discovered maggots in the carpet.
The group took photos and videos and supplied them to the Herald.
As for the camera, she said her bridesmaid spied it within the first hour of being there. They tried to reach it, to cover it, but it was too high on the ceiling.
"At that stage we were like, 'Oh that's a security camera' but we did make sure that from that point on we weren't too exposed.
"We did check the rooms [for more cameras] but couldn't see anything obvious."
Cameras similar to the one found in the cottage can be bought online for as little as $US50.
The woman said they were also unimpressed with the state of the property and alleged the lawns were overgrown and up to knee-length in places, while in other spots there was chicken poo from about 30 to 50 chickens which were on the site.
Her father had to buy sheets of plastic to lay on the ground so they didn't get chicken poo on their dresses or shoes, she claimed.
"There were maggots in the kitchen, in the lounge. ... there are probably 50-odd chickens that just run free on the property and they just poop ... so my dad had to do an emergency run to Mitre 10 Mega to get plastic so they could lay it down so my dress didn't get poo or anything else on it."
She said she also didn't realise they would be sharing the accommodation with the owner.
"On the booking ... it's really not clear that it's a shared house. He actually lives there as well. There's one line on the booking that it says 'shared living area'.
She said they tried to find alternative accommodation but everything was booked out as there were big events in the area that weekend.
"It didn't seem like a nightmare at the time, but I think it was because we were all caught up in the whole atmosphere, but looking back on it now it's absolutely crazy.
"I felt uneasy but there was just so much going on. We got up at 7am and didn't stop until the wedding. And I didn't want to let this ruin my day.
"It just wasn't made clear. I would never have booked something like this for my bridal party [had I known]."
Zhou, a former real estate agent, has been contacted for comment on the latest claims but is yet to respond.
On Monday he told the Herald the Mini CCTV system was switched on manually at night when nobody was at home for security.
"Unfortunately your group was the worst people who rude to housekeeping lady, dirty, prejudiced, dishonest and nasty we have ever hosted; Your group is really ashamed to the locals [sic]," the owner wrote in an email to the Herald.