A Prince George man who pleaded guilty to hiding a camera in the women's washroom of a local business was sentenced Friday to a four-month conditional sentence followed by 20 months probation.
Among the conditions imposed on him, Gary Ernest Payne, 49, must get counselling but provincial court judge Michael Brecknell agreed to give him the option of seeking one-on-one therapy at his own cost, subject to approval of the probation office and the supervisor of the sexual offender treatment program.
Payne has pleaded guilty to a count of secretly observing or recording nudity or sexual activity in relation to the Nov. 5, 2012 incident in which he concealed a camera in the paper towel dispenser of the women's washroom.
He aimed the camera at the toilet and then spent the next 35 minutes in the adjacent men's washroom watching the images on a smartphone. It came to an end when an employee went into the women's washroom to do some cleaning and noticed something in the dispenser.
She initially thought a child had jimmied it open and jammed something in but discovered the camera when she opened it up, the court was told. Payne immediately left the location but the business's security camera caught his image. The manager recognized him and RCMP arrested him at his home later the same day.
Payne recorded seven women, adjusting the camera after the first one.
In a statement to police, Payne admitted to committing the act and to trying unsuccessfully to doing the same thing the day before. Payne blamed watching internet pornography for giving him the urge to commit the crime.
Brecknell disagreed with that assessment.
"I accept that with pornography being prodigiously available on the internet, it certainly had the capacity to fan Mr. Payne's views on things but I have no doubt that he was acting in a planned and deliberate fashion," Brecknell said.
Brecknell also said the pre-sentence report on Payne indicated he "does not yet have a full appreciation" of the impact his crime had on the immediate victims and the sense of safety for the public at large.
In 2008, Payne was given a conditional discharge after he was found masturbating in his car while following some women. Although he attended every class of a sex offender treatment program, Payne received low grades for the effort he put into the work, Brecknell noted.
Payne has suffered from depression for about 15 years that has required medication, Brecknell said, and noted that in the months leading up to the offence, he began to ignore the physical activities he had been engaging in and instead, spent more and more time watching pornography on the internet.
Payne must also stay away from the business while on the conditional sentence, effectively house arrest although he can still go to work, and cannot have access to an internet connection during both the conditional sentence and the probation term.
