A YOUNG man who secretly filmed an encounter with a Newcastle sex worker has been handed a good behaviour bond and will be supervised by the Maitland Community Corrections office for the next two years.
Archer Lee Russell, 21, was sentenced in Newcastle Local Court on Thursday for recording video footage of a sex worker he hired on the night of May 4.
A statement of facts tendered to the court said the apprentice carpenter from Aberglasslyn paid for a 30-minute session with the woman.
But before she entered the room, Russell turned on his mobile phone video camera and propped it on a chair, facing the bed - he did not tell her he was filming.
Almost 15 minutes into the session, the woman saw the phone's camera facing them and took her first opportunity to grab it.
She left the room and sent the video to her phone out of fear the evidence could be deleted, and the manager called police.
The woman had never given consent to be filmed performing private acts with the 21-year-old.
Russell offered the woman more money when he learned police were on the way.
"I just made a stupid mistake. I shouldn't of [sic] done it," he told officers as he surrendered his phone when they arrived.
Russell pleaded guilty to one count of filming a person in a private act without consent to obtain sexual arousal and received a discount due to his early plea.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail.
Criminal defence lawyer James Janke said on Thursday there was "effectively no forward planning" in making the video and the incident involved "no coercion, no violence".
Mr Janke said the matter involved a "serious offence" and his client had clearly shown insight into his actions and their effects - particularly on the woman involved.
Magistrate Janine Lacy said there needed to be strong general deterrence in the punishment she handed down, and the woman involved - whom she considered to be vulnerable due to her job - had a right to privacy.
If a convicted person breaks any conditions of a Community Correction Order, they can be re-sentenced for the original offence.
