Yet another illicit domestic surveillance incident, with the Age reporting that Ballarat Magistrates Court has heard that a man allegedly concealed surveillance cameras in skirting boards at his ex-wife's home and attached a GPS tracker to her car.
The man was accused of installing a camera in the bathroom and bedroom at the family home, reportedly telling police "it was for his own safety". The Court was told that the surveillance cameras were linked to a VCR recording device.
The cameras were found in June 2014 after the former couple's
daughter found a listening device in the house, a discovery that allegedly caused an
argument that ended the relationship.
The recording device was placed in the house to hear what the victim
was "saying to people about him behind his back". The man admitted ownership of the GPS tracking device, allegedly discovered
after the victim took her car into an electrical specialist in Ballarat,
but denied attaching it to the victim's car.
The Age reports that an envelope with five GPS coordinates of five locations recently visited by the woman, allegedly in the man's
handwriting, was also
found.
The man is charged with recklessly causing injury, stalking, use of a listening device and contravening an interim family violence intervention order.
He allegedly entered the house on June 12 and attacked the woman in her bedroom, jumped on her chest and tried to tape her mouth. The court heard that after a short struggle the man allegedly tried to place a pillow over the woman's face before she broke free and calmed the accused down, forcing him to leave the property.
Magistrate Holzer commented that the "bizarre, sophisticated and protracted" allegations, if proven, could potentially attract a jail term.
