A ‘dirty creep’ who was caught secretly filming his flatmate in her bedroom and on the toilet for more than a year has unleashed at a reporter after being confronted about his perverted crimes.
Queensland man Angus William Gale faced Warwick Magistrates Court on June 8 pleading guilty to observations or recording in breach of privacy.
The 22-year-old man obsessively took photos, video and constantly monitored his flatmate while she changed, slept, showered and went to the toilet for more than 20 months.
The Warwick man showed no remorse for spying on his unsuspecting flatmate when approached by Nine reporter Chris Allen in the street.
Allen asked the young man about the secretly recorded videos to which he shot back: ‘I don’t really give a s**t’.
Queensland man Angus Gale (right) said he did not ‘give a f**k’ after he was confronted for secretly filming his flatmate for 20 months
The confrontation, which aired on A Current Affair on Monday night, quickly escalated with Gale shouting a spray of foul-mouthed insults.
‘I don’t care you f*****g bigwigs. I don’t give a f**k,” Gale told Chris Allen.
‘You c***s come from f*****g Brisbane to tell me this s**t. I’m going to work, f**k off.’
Between January 2021 and September 2022 Gale would enter his flatmate’s bedroom and the bathroom to position cameras before returning to his room to monitor the footage.
His flatmate, Hannah Rutledge shared an apartment with Gale who was friends with her former partner and a work colleague.
The 22-year-old believed Gale was ‘normal’ before she uncovered the sickening surveillance in 2021.
‘The police had found images of me sleeping half-naked and also videos of people using the bathroom where the iPhone had been set up behind the toilet recording people,’ Ms Rutledge told A Current Affair.
Ms Rutledge first discovered she was being watched after finding a small black box camera angled towards her bed and hidden underneath the PlayStation remote on her TV console while cleaning her room.
The 22-year-old obsessively took photos, video and constantly monitored his flatmate while she changed, slept, showered and went to the toilet
The quick-thinking young woman retrieved the SD card from the camera and downloaded its contents onto her laptop – uncovering 15 video files and images of herself getting changed and walking around the room.
One video shows Gale’s face as he sets up the camera before leaving the room only to return again to adjust the camera angle.
Ms Rutledge believes Gale was watching her when she discovered the hidden camera, receiving a Snapchat message from him within minutes trying to justify why the camera was in her room.
Gale claimed he asked his brother to put the camera on charge and that he mistakenly plugged the camera in the wrong room.
Ms Rutledge said she felt ‘very on edge all the time’ despite her flatmate promising to never do it again.
The offending did not stop and 10 months later in September 2022 after returning to her room from a shower she noticed a gap in her blinds where she discovered an iPhone recording her.
‘I walked in after having a shower in the bathroom and then I realised that the blind had been raised,’ Ms Rutledge said.
‘I could see … an iPhone camera resting in the bottom corner and I reached through the broken fly screen and grabbed that camera and pulled it in to discover that it was still recording.
Hannah Rutledge (pictured) uncovered 15 video files and images of herself getting changed and walking around the room from the SD card of a camera hidden in her room
Ms Rutledge’s mum encouraged her to call police and Gale was arrested and charged.
Police found pictures on Gale’s computer of Ms Rutledge including three images of her asleep in her bed and three of her using the toilet.
Gale pleaded guilty to one count of observations or recording in breach of privacy and was sentenced to 18 months release under supervision.
The Warwick Magistrates Court heard that Gale had been struggling with mental health issues and was the sole breadwinner for his family.
Magistrate Andrew Cridland said Gale’s offending was simply ‘not appropriate’ and if he had been older a jail sentence would have been considered.
Gale, the son of a Southern Downs Regional councillor Andrew Gale, was not fined nor was a conviction recorded.
The court ordered he report in person to a parole officer and attend counselling for his offending.
A Current Affair’s host Allison Langdon labelled Gale a ‘dirty creep’ and a ‘grub’, praising Ms Rutledge for her courage in coming forward.
One video shows Gale’s face as he sets up the camera before leaving the room only to return again to adjust the camera angle (pictured)
Ms Rutledge’s mum Anna Campbell labelled the verdict as ‘weak’ the outcome would not encourage victims to come forward.
‘It was grubby, heartbreaking and disgusting, we had been watching her for months fade away, she just didn’t look right,’ Ms Campbell told The Courier Mail outside of court.
‘She was terrified in her own home. It was taking on a toll on her physically and mentally, she looked like she was getting thinner and thinner. She has gone through months of hell, he traumatised my baby.’
A senior office from the Darling Downs District is reviewing the matter.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk