The sentence handed to a West Vancouver man who used a hidden camera to capture videos of a young woman in his bathroom is generating outrage – with critics particularly angry over the judge appearing to blame the voyeur’s actions on marital intimacy struggles.
The man, whom Global News is not naming due to a publication ban on anything that could identify the victim, planted a camera in an electric toothbrush charger to take nude photos and video of a 21-year-old international student in 2022.
He pleaded guilty to one count of voyeurism in June and was handed a conditional discharge Oct. 26 – which means he will avoid a criminal record if he completes 30 months of probation.
In sentencing the 43-year-old health care worker, Judge Joseph Galati told the court he was “satisfied it would clearly be in [the man’s] best interest to avoid the stigma of a criminal record — and the possible effect it might have on his employment.”
“It’s so disappointing and it’s completely unacceptable in the 21st century,” Angela Marie MacDougall told Global News in an interview Wednesday.
MacDougall, the executive director of Battered Women’s Support Services, said the sentence shows that survivors continue to be discounted – despite the work her organization has done within the province’s judiciary.
“To see the criminal legal system take such an accused-centred approach, with no consideration for the victim, and the chilling effect this will almost certainly have, that it continues to have, and that this particular woman made the decision to come forward,” MacDougall said. “And then we have this appalling sentence.”
The judge’s decision is generating no shortage of anger online with comments in a Reddit thread remarking: “this reads like a joke. Seriously? Protecting the perpetrator?”
“This guy is a pervert and a criminal. Our justice system is ridiculous,” wrote another commenter. “How dare a legal official put part of the blame on the WIFE!” added a third.
The latter is a reference to the judge finding that the man’s actions were out of character and “a marital deficit contributed to the offending conduct.”
In detailing mental health and pre-sentence reports, Crown prosecutor Ariana Ward told the court the offence occurred during a period of the man’s life where there were some sexual intimacy issues between him and his wife and, for some reason, “he felt capturing images and satisfying those urges wouldn’t be hurting anyone as along as she didn’t know.”
Court heard the couple is now engaged in ongoing marital counselling.
“I guess we can only be better and that’s what we’re working on is to become better people,” the man’s wife told Global News on Tuesday.
While the victim has returned to her home country, another female student is currently staying at the convicted voyeur’s home.
When she leaves on Jan. 1, 2024, the man must not have any females outside of his extended family living there for the duration of his probation.
Once his probation is successfully completed, there is nothing stopping the man from hosting women again.
“I wonder if the judge has spoken with that student,” said Languages Canada executive director Gonzalo Peralta. “I wonder if the student is aware of everything that is happening.”
Languages Canada works with federal and provincial governments to make it easier for foreign students to study in the country.
The national body’s members receive 150,000 international students annually and Languages Canada said this case may prompt a review of its protection processes.
“Times have changed, you can hide a camera in a toothbrush now,” Peralta told Global News.
“So how do we adapt to those new conditions? I think it’s important.”
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