A Vietnamese medical student at Melbourne University has escaped without punishment despite being caught secretly filming 150 women in toilets and showers.
Bao Phuc Cao, 23, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to a charge of upskirting for filming a woman in the District Docklands shopping centre in February 25.
The court heard that when he was arrested and asked why he was in the female toilets, Cao told police “I’m not sure about my gender”, the Herald Sun reported.
Cao, who is studying to be a neurosurgeon, faced court multiple times last year over the same Docklands upskirting spree and for similar offences at a student accommodation building, but was spared convictions on each occasion.
His lawyers asked the court for no conviction to be recorded again as the offending was included in conduct he had previously been sentenced for, which was not opposed by the prosecution.
Magistrate Michelle Myktywoycz adjourned the case until March 13 so Cao’s victim can provide a statement, but confirmed she would sentence him to a good behaviour bond without conviction, regardless of what the victim said.
Cao was first arrested for filming a woman at RoomingKos student accommodation in the city’s CBD after his victim saw his mobile phone under her shower cubicle. Police then found hundreds of photos and videos of up to 150 other women.
Cao was charged and pleaded guilty, but was spared a conviction, ordered to complete a sex offenders program, and given a Community Corrections Order.
He was then arrested again for the Docklands offending, again pleaded guilty, and was again spared a conviction.
Melbourne University said last year privacy rules prevented them from revealing if Cao is still a student, but that they were “committed to eliminating and preventing sexual misconduct from our community and have robust systems and supports in place for our students and staff”.
“Any experience of assault, sexual assault and sexual harassment within our university community is unacceptable,” a spokesperson said.
Anti-violence campaigner Sherele Moody from the Red Heart Campaign told 9News Cao’s crimes were not victimless.
“Every one of those women have had their privacy invaded. It also means that if he does go on to become a doctor or a surgeon, his patients are not going to know what he’s been up to and what he could potentially get up to,” she said.
“How many women have to be subjected to a perpetrator of this type of crime, and he literally gets away with it. How safe are the female students at that university right now?”
Header image: Left, Bao Phuc Cao. Right, the student accommodation building (9News).
