Posted by CandidCamera on December 01, 2004 at 12:28:10:
Fine over mobile topless pictures
December 1, 2004
A SYDNEY man was fined $500 today for taking photographs of topless women on Coogee Beach with his mobile phone.
Labourer Peter Mackenzie, 25, of Coogee, pleaded guilty in Waverley Local Court to behaving offensively in a public place on November 6.
It is believed to be the first time anyone has been prosecuted over such photography.
The partner of a woman he snapped confronted Mackenzie and called the police, staying with him at the beach until officers arrived.
Mackenzie told the court he had agonised over his actions.
"I really feel like I've blemished 25 years of being a decent person," he said.
Mackenzie faced three months in jail, but Magistrate Lee Gilmore instead fined him $500, warning him that "women are not objects of decoration for men's gratification".
Mackenzie's Nokia camera phone will be destroyed.