MELBOURNE: A third man has been charged with taking inappropriate photos of women at the Australian Open, as police vowed to clamp down on anyone wrongly using hand-held cameras.
Victoria state police said 34-year-old Japanese student Takuya Muto also allegedly took several photographs of women in a bathroom at a central Melbourne backpackers' hostel.
He was arrested on Tuesday after a female victim at the hostel raised the alarm. Police also allegedly found a photo on his camera he had taken up a woman's skirt at the Australian Open.
Muto appeared in court on Wednesday facing charges including stalking, using an optical device, offensive behaviour and unlawful assault. The case was adjourned until Thursday.
His case follows the arrest of two men, aged 32 and 35, last week for similar offences in the Australian Open grounds. A man who allegedly had a camera lens concealed in his shoe was recently charged over similar behaviour on Melbourne trams.
Victoria state police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon warned they would clamp down on anyone using hand-held cameras to film and photograph people inappropriately.
Acting Victoria Premier John Thwaites said people who filmed up women's skirts would be prosecuted under laws against stalking and offensive behaviour. "People who do this sort of thing will face the law and they do potentially face imprisonment," he said.
It has been a trying time for organisers of the Australian Open with police also investigating the assault of a five-year-old boy in a toilet cubicle at the tournament, and crowd violence involving Croatian and Serbian fans.
Nixon admitted that the police may have 'underestimated the risk' at the tournament.
"In this case, we may have slightly underestimated the risk, but that's a lesson for us to learn and we will certainly learn in the future from that exercise," she said.
