A convicted child sex offender has been jailed for making Ballina toilet recordings of 11 women inside public toilets at Tamar Street Village in May.
Shane Roy Jones, 50, appeared from custody by audiovisual link before Judge Kathy Crittenden in Ballina Local Court on Friday.
Jones pleaded guilty to 11 counts of intentionally recording an intimate image without consent and one count of possessing a prohibited drug.
How the Ballina toilet recordings were made
The Ballina toilet recordings were made inside the women’s public toilets near Martins Bakery at Tamar Street Village.
Jones used a mobile phone to record women by positioning it beneath the gap between adjoining toilet cubicles.
The recordings began about 1pm and continued until shortly after 2.30pm, when a woman noticed what appeared to be a recording device and contacted police.
Police seized Jones’s phone and found 31 videos and five images connected to the offending.
Investigators identified 11 women who had been recorded without their knowledge or consent.
Four alleged bail breaches
Jones initially received bail under conditions banning him from possessing a camera or recording device, entering Ballina shopping centres or using public toilets.
He faced four alleged bail breaches involving possession of a camera, two curfew breaches and a residence breach.
The first allegation arose when police found a camera in his Ballina motel room.
While Jones remained on bail he sustained head injuries when masked men allegedly attacked him at his emergency motel accommodation in Ballina in what his solicitor described as a suspected vigilante attack.
Authorities later moved him to motel accommodation in Grafton for his protection.
Further residence and curfew breaches led the court to revoke his bail on June 15.
Jones remained in custody until sentencing on Friday.
Extensive criminal history
This is not Jones first custodial sentence.
He has previously received two lengthy prison sentences in Queensland.
In 2007, the Maroochydore District Court sentenced him to six years in prison after he broke into a Coolum home and sexually assaulted a four-year-old girl while her mother slept.
In 2018, the Brisbane District Court sentenced Jones to seven years in prison for offences including acts intended to disfigure, deprivation of liberty, assault and torture.
Final sentencing
Judge Crittenden imposed an aggregate two-year prison sentence for the 11 recording offences, with a non-parole period of 16 months.
The sentence was backdated to June 15, when Jones was remanded in custody.
Jones is due to be released on parole on October 14, 2027.
His full sentence expires on June 14, 2028.
He was also convicted of possessing a prohibited drug but received no additional penalty.
These judges are ridiculous.
They are clearly paid off somehow!
No bloody wonder we have vigilantes!
Disgusting