Luis Alberto Cancino Mena sentenced after using ‘pen camera' to spy on women

The Australian

2 days ago

A Chilean who used a tiny camera to spy on women showering has been told Australia 'doesn't want him here'.
Luis Alberto Cancino Mena recorded videos for months before the device was spotted by cleaners at a home in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs.
Mena, 39, pleaded guilty to three separate charges of filming a person without their consent and appeared at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday where he was given a nine month intensive corrections order.
Sentencing Mena, Magistrate Michael Barko said the impact of his crimes would cause anxiety for the victims for the rest of their lives.
He said: 'Pornography is not illegal, but when innocent women get filmed without consent it beggars belief, it's a perversion, it has to be a perversion.
'These women for the rest of their lives are going to think, 'Are these images going to be shared on the World Wide Web?'
'The defendant at the time was here with the privilege of being allowed in this country, he's expressed the desire to return to his homeland of Chile.
'Quite frankly the Australian public doesn't want him here.'
According to court documents, Mena's behaviour went undetected for months until cleaners stumbled upon the device in early February.
'The cleaners of the premises attended the location and begun cleaning as per the agreement in place. They were cleaning the bathroom before locating a recording camera device which was in the shape of a pen on the ground of the bathroom. The cleaner pulled apart the device and observed it to be recording,' court documents said.
'The storage device was accessed by the cleaners and they observed recording files of the victim with no clothes on taking a shower.'
Police say one recording 'clearly shows the accused setting the camera up in the bathroom'.
After arresting Mena, police seized the man's laptop where they found folders marked under the names of the victims.
Footage taken from the hidden camera had been catalogued based on who it was recording, and was then placed into the folder allocated to that person.
In coming to his decision, Magistrate Barko noted the considerable effort Mena went to in buying the pen with a camera in it, getting the SIM card and downloading the footage, saying 'it's not as though you're picking up a box of chocolates from Woolworths'.
He also queried the mindset of Mena, when pornography was easily accessible online.
'With all that's accessible on the internet, all that's accessible on social media, all that's accessible with the push of a button, why someone has to acquire a camera, to film the private parts … of three completely innocent victims,' he said.
Mena must adhere to strict bail conditions including submitting to supervision by a Community Corrections Officer, or risk jail time.
Magistrate Barko also handed Mena an AVO order prohibiting him from contacting the victims for two years.
Robert got his start as an Editorial Assistant at the Daily Telegraph in 2024 before entering the Newscorp cadet program. With a background in history and law Robert has a passion for politics and crime reporting as well as telling meaningful stories. NewsWire
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