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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National

Fresh charges for man accused of filming woman in university bathroom

Ryan Andrew Yates leaves Newcastle courthouse after his first appearance in May. File picture

Fresh charges, including a count of using AI to produce child abuse material, have been laid against a man accused of filming a woman in a University of Newcastle bathroom.

Ryan Andrew Yates, 23, faced Newcastle Local Court on Thursday where his bail conditions were tightened as the court heard three new counts had been levelled at him since he last faced a magistrate.

Mr Yates, who sat in the back of the courtroom wearing a mask over his mouth and nose, now faces two child abuse material charges as well as one count of not providing access to evidence as ordered by the court.

The Fletcher man was charged in May, accused of intentionally filming a woman in the bathroom of the university's city campus without her consent on the afternoon of April 29.

According to court documents, Mr Yates now also faces one count each of producing child abuse material - for allegedly directing an Artificial Intelligence image generating program to do so - and using the encrypted messaging app Telegram to solicit child abuse material.

The AI child abuse material was allegedly produced the same day as the alleged filming in the university bathroom, while the alleged soliciting of child abuse material took place three days before his arrest.

Mr Yates also allegedly failed to provide his PIN or passphrase to authorities so they could access an "encrypted photo vault" app on his mobile phone.

Magistrate Alan Railton granted the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions' request to tighten Mr Yates' bail conditions.

He is required to report regularly to police, not contact the woman he allegedly filmed in the bathroom, and not enter the University of Newcastle.

The court heard that his employer had agreed to monitor his computer use while he was at work.

Mr Yates will face court again on August 28.

The city campus is accessible to members of public and the Newcastle Herald understands that university staff have been told to be aware of their surroundings in light of the alleged incident.

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