Joshua and Kenan Tiffen found guilty of spying on female tenants with hidden cameras in Canberra

Twin brothers have been found guilty of spying on three female tenants using hidden cameras in their bedrooms. 

Australian Federal Police officer Joshua Rod Tiffen and electrician Kenan Lee Tiffen, 44, have pleaded not guilty to a series of charges in the ACT Magistrates Court.  

Magistrate Glenn Theakston recently found the pair guilty of three counts of capturing visual data in an indecent invasion of privacy, The Canberra Times reported.   

The court heard the pair sublet two rooms at their home to female tenants and placed hidden cameras in coat racks at TVs to spy on them between March and May 2019.

The prosecution presented evidence that police found hidden cameras behind the front plastic housing of television sets and behind small glass windows on timber coat rack fittings located within two bedrooms, and the associated wiring connecting the coat rack cameras to a power supply in the roof space. 

An investigation led to the discovery on Joshua’s phone and a laptop of 42 videos and a still image recorded by the devices.

A WhatsApp discussion between the twins also revealed their ‘detailed’ discussions on use of the cameras. 

‘That conversation was extensive and included discussions about existing and potential cameras, current and future tenants and the private activities of the women viewed by using the cameras,’ the judgement read.  

The court heard the twins had even discussed live-streaming the footage they captured from the cameras ‘for a fee’, joking that they needed ‘2000 idiots paying 25 bucks’ to watch.

The twins were acquitted of a number of other charges after an investigation the judge described as being ‘plagued with a series of errors and mistakes’. 

One charge of the joint commission of capturing visual data of the neighbour in an indecent invasion of privacy resulted in acquittal, with Justice Theakston not satisfied there was an agreement to commit the offence despite two pictures of a naked woman being found on Joshua’s phone, and four videos of her in the nude on his laptop. 

Joshua was also acquitted of two further charges.  

One related to seven video files found on a laptop in his room that appeared to show women, a girl and a man using a public toilet. The magistrate found there was no evidence to show Tiffen was responsible for putting the camera in the toilet, plus the ownership and use of the HP laptop was uncertain.

For the same reasons of uncertainty in relation to ownership of the laptop, a charge of possessing child exploitation material amounting to 2040 pictures and 860 videos found on the computer against Joshua was not found proved.