Thai court jails Australian embassy ex-staffer over toilet spycams

Thai court jails Australian embassy ex-staffer over toilet spycams
France, Saint Nazaire, 2022-07-22. Surveillance camera on the roof of a building. Security and surveillance illustration. Photograph by Mathieu Thomasset / Hans Lucas. France, Saint Nazaire, 2022-07-22. Camera de surveillance sur le toit d un immeuble. Illustration securite et surveillance. Photographie de Mathieu Thomasset / Hans Lucas. (Photo by Mathieu Thomasset / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP)

BANGKOK, Thailand, Mar 23 – A former IT manager at the Australian embassy in Thailand was sentenced on Thursday to two years in jail for installing spy cameras in women’s bathrooms at the mission.

Nayot Thamsongsana, 39, pleaded guilty to two counts of committing an indecent act, under the kingdom’s sexual and public nuisance laws.

The cameras were discovered after a memory card was found on the bathroom floor in 2021, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

It is not clear how long they had been installed for.

“The court found him guilty of two counts and sentenced him to two years on each, but with his confession, the penalty was reduced by half,” a prosecutor told AFP.

Nayot was sacked and arrested in January 2022, when the embassy filed a formal complaint.

Sixty women had submitted statements to the police during the investigation, according to ABC.

Digital sex crimes, including the sharing of intimate pictures or videos without permission, remain relatively unusual in Thailand.

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