By Brion Hoban
A man who secretly captured intimate images of two women by hiding cameras in bathrooms has been jailed for one year.
Anthony Dunne (61) recorded a video of a colleague at the factory where he worked while she was using the shower facilities by attaching a camera to his phone and hiding the devices behind boxes.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Dunne also captured images of his then partner’s daughter-in-law while she used the bathroom in her home.
Dunne of Hazelmere, Naas, Co Kildare, pleaded guilty to harassment of Leanne Daly at an address in Clondalkin, Dublin during the period between February 2020 and April 2020.
He also pleaded guilty to recording an intimate image without consent at O’Neills Factory, Long Mile Road, Walkinstown, Dublin, on March 23, 2021.
He has no previous convictions.
Mark Lynam BL, prosecuting, told the court that the injured parties had been consulted and neither of them are seeking anonymity.
Passing sentence today, Judge Orla Crowe said that the invasion of privacy in this case cannot be denied in any way.
The judge said the offending was aggravated by the fact that Dunne knew these women, that they trusted him and this was therefore a gross breach of their trust and gross violation of their privacy.
She said there was a considerable amount of premeditation.
She said he would have had to have watched their movements to know where they would be in order to set up the phone.
Judge Crowe sentenced Dunne to one year imprisonment.
She also ordered that he have no contact with Ms Daly for two years post release.
In her victim impact statement, Paula Jordan said it had started off as a really good day, but little did she know that by the afternoon she would be left “sickened and distraught” by a work colleague she had known for 20 years setting up a camera to secretly record her.
Ms Jordan said that to realise now he was “obviously stalking” her to do what he did was “extremely distressing”.
She said this was very much premeditated and it scares her to think what was going through his mind.
She said it has seriously impacted her level of trust with people.
She said she was experiencing sleep difficulties, is on edge most of the time and finds herself anxious.
Ms Jordan said she no longer avails of the shower facilities at work.
In her victim impact statement, Leanne Daly said there has been a serious effect on her since she found out that someone she trusted had been secretly filming her in her house where she had always felt safe.
Ms Daly said she cannot sleep at night and is woken by nightmares of him watching her. She said the visions will not go away no matter how hard she tried and that this will haunt her forever.
She said what has caused her to stress is the length he went to just to record her in the shower.
She said he had to have known her routine as the timing had to be perfect to catch her.
Ms Daly said she is so relieved he has been caught because she would not want any other girl to go through what she went through.