A biomedical student’s covert recording of women in public restrooms has left one victim in constant fear for her safety, making her unable to use these facilities comfortably.

This woman joins an indeterminate number of individuals whom university student Bao Phuc Cao illicitly filmed in private moments at public venues.

On February 20, 2025, the woman entered the public restrooms at Chipmunks Playland and Cafe Docklands, unaware that her privacy was about to be invaded by someone in the adjacent stall.

While in the restroom, she spotted an iPhone being discreetly positioned near the dividing wall, capturing footage without her consent.

Overwhelmed by fear and anxiety upon discovering the recording, she hurried out to alert security, leading them to find Cao in the neighboring cubicle.

Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz reviewed the victim’s impact statement, noting the significant and distressing effects of Cao’s actions on her well-being.

“She remains anxious, unsurprisingly she is hypervigilant,” the magistrate said.

The woman’s sense of safety has been and continues to be affected, impacting her ability to use the restroom in the office and in public, she added.

“These concerns are the long-term effects of your offending,” Mykytowycz said.

On Friday, Cao was sentenced to a 12-month adjourned undertaking without conviction where he must be of good behaviour and comply with his previous community corrections order.

The offender had been sentenced twice before receiving a community corrections order — in July 2025 on the same matter and May 2025 relating to an incident in October 2024.

Under the principle of totality, the magistrate said his charge today should have been bundled with his previous sentencing as it would have been unlikely to have impacted his prior sentence.

Mykytowycz took into account his guilty plea, youth and that he has no family in Australia, but described the offending as very serious and the complainant was entitled to feel safe.

“Your offending was not of a physical nature but of the most intimate kind in a public toilet,” she said.

“Court has to send a message to the community that they denounce this offending and (reinforce) the protection of women who are entitled and must feel safe in public utilities.”

The court was told Cao’s phone used in the offending will be returned to him after authorities figure out how to delete all its contents.

He left the court a free man and was bundled away from the chasing media pack by the son of a man who was jailed in a separate case heard before Cao’s sentencing.