A Northern Beaches father used a camera tied to his shoe to ‘upskirt’ unsuspecting females in Warringah Mall, Warriewood Square and Chatswood over three months, agreed facts tendered in Manly Court today confirm.
The behaviour only stopped after he was caught and called out by a 12 year old girl and her mother at K-mart in Warriewood Square last year.
The man, Principe Antonio, 55 of Frenchs Forest, has today pleaded guilty to ten counts of filming “privates without consent”.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of possession or use of a prohibited weapon without a permit, one count of possessing child abuse material and one count of filming “privates without consent” under 16.
This is a variation from his last appearance in March, and settles all charges in readiness for sentencing.
Court documents revealed the girl’s mother noticed Mr Antonio hovering around her daughter before sliding his foot under her skirt. The offender had purchased a small $20 dashcam and attached it to his shoelace with the purpose of filming ‘up-skirts’ after viewing similar videos of the action online.
Documents tendered to the court state the offender was waiting for his wife to finish grocery shopping while the final crime, which involved the 12 year old, took place.
After spotting the camera, the mother quickly asked for an explanation from the man before demanding the dashcam, taking his picture and forcing him to stay seated while security arrived.
Mr Antonio repeatedly apologised during the incident before he was arrested by Northern Beaches Police shortly after and brought to Manly Police Station where he said the girl’s mini-pleated skirt was a ‘trigger’ for him.
Upon arrest, the offender was in possession of an SC card and USB stick to which he said contained family photos. On inspection, police found 16 up-skirt videos with 11 of them in a USB subfolder labeled ‘BEAUTS’.
Although there was one known victim in this case, the videos seized showed shots of multiple unknown victims as Mr Antonio pretended to shop and followed women of ‘various ages’ around Chatswood, Warringah Mall and Warriewood shopping centres numerous times between 1 May 2024 and 22 July 2024.
Police searched the man’s Frenchs Forest home and found several digital storage devices, dashcams and mobile phones. One storage device contained eight images and two videos of child abuse material falling within category 2 of the Australian Abuse Categorisation Scheme.
A small bag with a metal expandable baton and two flick knives were also found and seized by police.
The court documents further reveal Mr Antonio told police he regrets his actions. He was granted conditional bail and will return to Manly Local Court for sentencing on 11 June.
