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RNZ News
24-06-2025
- RNZ News
Daine Williams jailed after young girl finds camera, exposes years of voyeuristic filming
By Tracy Neal, Open Justice multimedia journalist of Daine Williams sobbed during sentencing in the Nelson District Court on charges related to him secretly filming multiple victims. Photo: NZME / Tracey Neal Warning: This story contains details of offending that may upset some readers A young girl who spotted a hidden camera perched on the windowsill of her family bathroom threw it out the window. She then went and told her parents, who found it in the garden, leading to the discovery of a cache of disturbing material, including images of their child in the shower. Now, Daine Arthur Williams has been jailed for secretly filming people, mainly women and girls in their bathrooms and members of the public as they walked about the city streets. Williams wore a camera on his shoe and targeted women in dresses so he could capture "upskirted" images of them. Some victims were colleagues at a former workplace. Others were unknowingly filmed as they walked around Nelson. In another instance, he filmed a man using the toilet and then taking a shower. During Williams' sentencing in the Nelson District Court today, Judge Tony Snell said it was apparent that Williams had been secretly filming people for years. He had been caught but was never prosecuted and had gone on to re-offend. Judge Snell described Williams as "highly manipulative and capable of outrageous lies". In many instances, he filmed himself turning the camera on and off, which is what led the police to him when the camera was handed in. Williams, who appeared to sob frequently throughout the hearing, will be banned from returning to the Nelson region, following his release from a two-and-a-half-year prison term. Judge Snell said that the "crocodile tears" he once shed, pretending to care for one of his victims before it was known he was the offender, demonstrated the "manipulative and nasty person" he was. The 40-year-old was sentenced on charges of knowingly making an objectionable publication, four charges of making an intimate visual recording, burglary and two representative charges of possessing an intimate visual recording. The charges related to video footage police found in Williams' possession, involving three victims from one family Williams knew, and 20 other victims whom the police could not identify. One of three known victims said in a highly charged delivery of her victim impact statement that the toll taken by the discovery had been "profound". "Our hearts are shattered and fear has consumed us. We no longer feel safe in our home." She added the sense of betrayal had been overwhelming, and she remained haunted by the thought of how long Williams might have been filming them. "The hurt and anger you have caused is impossible to describe," she said tearfully. Crown prosecutor Jackson Webber said there were "numerous" aggravating features to Williams' offending, including the high degree of pre-meditation and planning. He watched his victims for months and devised an exit strategy for if he was caught. Defence lawyer Michael Vesty said Williams accepted the great deal of violation felt by the victims, and that the shockwaves had gone way beyond him to his family and extended family. On a night in October last year, Williams went to the victims' address, opened a bathroom window and placed a camera on the windowsill inside. At 6am the next morning, he recorded a young girl, known as victim one, as she went about her morning routine. She saw the gooseneck, adjustable camera and threw it out the window, thinking it was a "walkie talkie". Her parents retrieved it from the garden, and called the police. An initial download revealed six media files containing three videos stored on an SD card, one of which was 20 minutes long and showed a child unknowingly exposing herself while showering and drying herself. Once the camera had been found, but before Williams was identified, he spoke with one of the victims, saying he was "sorry" such a thing had happened to them. He even began to tear up, and hug the victim, the police summary of facts said. He suggested others as the culprits then asked the victim how her husband was coping because "the role of a father is to protect your kids, and, in this situation, he hasn't been able to". Judge Snell said that comment made the father a victim, also. He said Williams' "predatory, invasive and horrible offending" for his own voyeuristic sexual gratification had had terrible consequences, for those that knew about it. On 11 November last year police searched Williams' home and found items, including clothing, that matched what was seen in one of the videos. Police said the camera and SD card were sent to a digital forensic unit for further examination, which revealed deleted items including more video files of the family's bathroom from different camera angles, while another was a video of victim one walking into her bedroom, wrapped in a towel. The discovery that many others had been secretly filmed followed the seizure of electronic items during the search of Williams' home on 11 November. Included among the items were three "exhibits" containing 38 videos and one "image of interest". Twenty-seven of the 38 videos found were captured from the camera on Williams' shoe, of which 11 were "upskirting" videos. In one instance, he spent a minute doing this, and in another, he spent almost half an hour filming 16 women walking around Nelson, aged from young teens to adults. Police said Williams' targeting of four victims, who were captured on "multiple occasions" after they were followed, showed "predatory, stalking behaviour". The videos, which ranged in length, showed unknown bathrooms and a person using a shower in a cubicle with no door and a toilet. In one video Williams captured himself setting up the camera in a bathroom and calling out "the bathroom's free" as a teenage girl walked in, turned on the shower and got undressed. The video stopped before she got out. Judge Snell said that Williams, if left untreated, presented a high risk of re-offending. He was automatically registered as a child sex offender. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
RNZ News
23-06-2025
- RNZ News
Marlborough man leaves boys with loaded rifle on beach, judge condemns 'stupid behaviour'
By Tracy Neal, Open Justice reporter of Aaron Grant Pickering has been sentenced in the Nelson District Court on firearms and hunting charges after a trip with two young boys to d'Urville Island in the Marlborough Sounds. Photo: NZME A man left two young boys on a beach with a loaded rifle while he went off fishing and drinking. Now he's been told off by a judge for his "stupid behaviour" that could have set the boys up for a lifetime of grief, after they tried to shoot a pig. "You left a 10-year-old and a 15-year-old with a loaded .308 rifle to go hunting on the island while you went drinking and fishing. "God knows who they might have shot and killed or wounded," Judge Tony Snell said in a scathing sentencing of Aaron Grant Pickering. The 50-year-old, who did not have a firearms licence after it was earlier revoked, later claimed to have tossed the rifle into the sea off d'Urville Island in the Marlborough Sounds. Judge Snell said there was no way the boys could have known if anyone was nearby when they shot at a pig from the beach. To put it mildly, he said it was "stupid behaviour" on Pickering's part, that might have had devastating consequences for the boys if they had injured someone else. "It was a massive recipe for disaster," and the most serious offending of its type, Judge Snell said. Pickering, who was said by his lawyer to spend long periods at sea as a crew member on a Niwa vessel, today admitted in the Nelson District Court charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful hunting. The police summary of facts said the hunting trip was on private land on d'Urville Island. His firearms licence had been revoked in 2009 after a final protection order was made against him. In April 2013 Pickering inquired about getting his firearms licence back, but was told that a protection order was still in place, and to investigate how it might be discharged. The police summary of facts said the order remains in place. On 8 January Pickering, who lived in Marlborough's Rai Valley, about half way between Nelson and Blenheim, took the boys on the trip. At about 7pm that night he dropped the boys on a beach with the loaded rifle, which had a telescopic scope and a suppressor, and went off to a fishing spot. The police said Pickering continued drinking as he fished. A short time later the 10 year-old shot at a pig, but after a short search he and the other boy were unable to find the animal. Pickering tried to start his boat, but couldn't because of mechanical problems, so signalled to the driver of a boat nearby, who came to help. Pickering asked the people on board to collect the boys off the island, but when they found them, they asked the youngsters who had given them permission to hunt there. Neither was able to answer, and continually changed their story, the police said. Pickering later told the police that he had the rifle to "put meat on the table" and that he had thrown it into the ocean on return to Admiralty Bay. Defence lawyer Mark Dollimore said Pickering had "shot himself in the foot," with the charges, and accepted it was unlikely that the police or court might believe the rifle had been ditched. Judge Snell said he had read that with a "huge amount of scepticism". "I don't believe it has been thrown away", he said. Judge Snell said there were several aggravating features to Pickering's offending, including that he had been disqualified from holding a firearms licence, he was hunting on private land, which the owner knew nothing about, and he had left the boys with a loaded rifle. He said there was a lot at stake for Pickering, including his employment and in his personal life, but it was a "foolish act on many levels". Judge Snell said in sentencing Pickering to 120 hours of community work, and fining him $2000, that he was unlikely to ever get his firearms licence back now. He noted Pickering's previous offending, and said if there was any repeat of a firearms charge, he would likely end up in jail. Judge Snell added a final warning on Pickering's file. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
