Sneaky skirt snapper is a bit camera shy himself

Steven Graham leaves the Auckland District Court after sentencing. Photo / Chris Loufte

Steven "Grimes" Graham likes taking sneaky photos up women's skirts - but he goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid being photographed himself.

The 48-year-old from the expensive Auckland suburb of St Heliers was sentenced this week to 24 months' intensive supervision for making an intimate visual recording.

It is not his first conviction: in 1995 he was sent to prison for unlawful sexual connection with a girl under the age of 12.

When he was arrested on this occasion, police found he had modified a red sports bag to conceal a camera.

Walking down Auckland's Queen St in November, he swung the bag under a Korean tourist's skirt several times. The woman's husband noticed and confronted Graham.

When police arrested him, their forensic IT experts found a further seven recordings of unidentified women that Graham had tried to erase from the camera's memory card.

After he was charged in court, the Herald on Sunday approached him at home. He answered the door, but retreated inside when asked about his charges.

His wife came to the door and said she was standing by her man. "He is a good man, a good husband," she said. "I am fully aware of what he has done and we are dealing with it as a family."

On his second appearance in the Auckland District Court, the Herald on Sunday applied for leave to photograph him in the courtroom - but was declined.

The newspaper had argued the public had a right to know what Graham looked like because of his repeated covert and intimate photography of women in public places, under the cover of anonymity.

But after opposition from defence lawyer David Young, Judge Mark Perkins declined the application, saying he never allowed defendants to be photographed in his courtroom.

Standing in the dock, slightly built and smartly dressed, Graham deliberately turned his back to the public gallery so his clean-shaven face could not be seen. Graham pleaded guilty.

After his appearance, his wife came out the front door of the courts acting as a decoy, while Graham slipped out the back exit and disappeared back into anonymity.

This week, Graham appeared before Judge Allison Sinclair for sentencing. Waiting for his name to be called, he sat at the back of the court holding his wife's hand.

When he stood in the dock, clad in jeans and a white open-necked shirt, he made no attempt to hide his face. But his appearance had changed: he had grown a beard, his brown hair was close-cropped and he wore thick-rimmed glasses.

Again, the Herald on Sunday sought permission to photograph him. Again, his lawyer "strongly opposed" the application. And this time, the judge declined the application without stating a reason.

Judge Sinclair told him the Korean woman had been shaken and embarrassed when she discovered what Graham had been doing. He had since made progress in counselling, she said, but still posed a medium risk of reoffending.

Graham had looked at voyeuristic pornography on the internet similar to his own recordings, and had described an adrenaline rush from indulging in "voyeuristic practices".

The judge said his conduct was abhorrent, and ordered the camera and bag be destroyed.

Head bowed to read from a piece of paper, Graham offered his "sincere apologies" to his victims, the court and his wife.

"I take full responsibility for what I have done," he said. "I will continue my counselling which I have found ... beneficial and will make sure nothing like this happens again."

After his appearance, Graham lingered inside the court for nearly two hours before emerging, again through a back exit, wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

According to the Companies Office, Graham is director of SE Graham Electronic Ltd - but the business has no listing in phone or internet directories.

He did not answer the door at his $840,000 Grampian Rd home this week, and a Corrections Department spokeswoman confirmed that the conditions of his supervision did not prevent him from staying elsewhere.

According to his Old Friends profile, Graham went to school in Albany, Northcross Intermediate and Long Bay College. He worked from 1980 to 1985 at NZ Railways. His profile said he ran his own small installation company and was an "unashamed workaholic".

He remembered Albany School was "the greatest place to be as a child", but he did recall being teased, writing:

"I regret how terribly mean we sometimes were to each other, it wasn't until I was 15 before I worked out my nickname of Grimes wasn't a mispronunciation of Graham, but that everyone thought I was grimey due to my freckles." This month, his Old Friends profile was changed. Now it says he lives in Australia - though there are doubts over the truth of that claim.

Seeking Steven

Has Steven Graham really left New Zealand? Or is he living anonymously, perhaps away from St Heliers, perhaps with a different appearance? Do you know his whereabouts? Do you have an old photo of him? Email news@hos.co.nz