Intimate Image Offences & Bail Breach
Seven matters were heard together at Downing Centre Local Court: six charges in the Brief of Evidence (H85611724) and a separate bail breach matter (H392614194). The six charges were four of recording an intimate image (s.91P Crimes Act 1900) and two of distributing an intimate image (s.91Q). The four recording charges and the bail breach were all dismissed. The two distribution charges resulted in findings of guilt, with $500 fines each, the minimum penalty the law allowed, on recklessness as to consent.
The images I was convicted of distributing were stills from my own home security cameras, showing the person I had reported inside my apartment. I had sent those images to him in correspondence in which I told him I had footage of him using drugs and taking property from my room. The break-in and identity theft that footage documented have never been investigated.
The Charges and Outcome
- Charges 1 to 4 (recording, s.91P): Four counts of recording an intimate image without consent. Three dated to 16 April 2021, the day my own cameras and account logs record @kandykingX inside the apartment while I was rostered at work. The fourth dated 21 January 2021, concerning footage of @kandykingX taking an item from a drawer in the apartment and using drugs at the dining table. All four dismissed, not guilty.
- Charges 5 and 6 (distributing, s.91Q): Two counts of distributing an intimate image without consent. Findings of guilt, $500 fines each, the minimum penalty, on recklessness as to consent. The images were sent to the person I had reported, in correspondence in which I told him I had footage of his conduct inside my apartment.
- Bail breach (H392614194): Heard the same day. Dismissed, not guilty.
Officer Roles
- The Facts Sheet was created by Det Alex Chatfield at 5:58 pm on 24 January 2022. The apprehending officer was Det Elise Chalmers (arrest recorded at 4:50 pm, 24 January 2022); the accepting officer was LSCon Cassandra Grace. Det Joel Mewburn was the officer in charge and prosecutor. The charge was laid at Kings Cross.
The Recording Charges Were Dated to the Intrusion Itself
- Three of the four s.91P recording counts were charged as having occurred on 16 April 2021, the day my own cameras and account logs record @kandykingX inside the apartment while I was rostered at work. The conduct the prosecution dated to that day was the entry I had reported.
- The fourth recording count was dated 21 January 2021. It concerns footage of @kandykingX taking an item, a gift I had bought for a family member, from a drawer in the apartment, and using drugs at the dining table. I had reported the item missing. The conduct I had reported was recast as something I had unlawfully recorded.
- The images said to support the recording charges were screenshots from @kandykingX's own publicly broadcast Beat Saber gaming livestream, streamed from his Potts Point Central Hotel residence in December 2021, not covert recordings inside my home in early 2021 as @kandykingX had sworn. The Brief of Evidence itself contains a frame of that broadcast showing @kandykingX signed into the Facebook Live producer (broadcast reference 627999184912424), with the live "End Live Video" control on screen.
- A Surry Hills detective reviewing the USB exhibit recorded in COPS eleven weeks before the hearing: "police could not find any images that would constitute an offence." The prosecution proceeded regardless.
- The alleged recording dates corresponded to dates on which I had made my own victim reports to police about @kandykingX, reports that were not investigated.
The Charges Were Written Into My Own Complaint
- The COPS event behind this prosecution, E83652754, was opened on 5 September 2021 as my report that @kandykingX was harassing me; at that stage police recorded finding "no evidence of any physical threats or any offence committed by the POI" (the person of interest being me). On 1 January 2022 that event was "combined" with two earlier events, and on the day of my arrest the intimate-image Facts Sheet was written into the same event by the OIC, with the alleged recording dates back-dated to 21 January and 16 April 2021. When I later sought, under GIPA, the separate reports I had made, including the 16 April 2021 computer-hacking report and a January 2022 report about a person contacting my employer, the agency located no such separate reports, only this one repurposed event.
The Sworn "Withdrawal From the Internet"
- In his statement @kandykingX said he had "removed all trace of myself and my business from the internet" because of reputational harm. The record shows the opposite. On the day of my arrest, 24 January 2022, he opened the YouTube channel @vrgameplay9609, whose only upload is the Beat Saber clip the recording charges relied on, and a second channel carrying two playlists, one titled "inspiration" and one titled "Fuck You" (last updated 11 April 2022). His business pages and groups stayed online and his accounts continued to grow after the arrest.
Source: NSW Police Brief of Evidence H85611724, including the Facebook Live producer frame (broadcast 627999184912424) showing @kandykingX signed in and broadcasting; Court Attendance Notice and Facts Sheet (H85611724), facts created by Det Alex Chatfield, 24 January 2022; informant/prosecutor Det Joel Mewburn, apprehending officer Det Elise Chalmers, charging station Kings Cross; Downing Centre Local Court. NSW Police GIPA Notice of Decision GIPAA-2022-0169903 (COPS Event E83652754, created 5 September 2021 by Const Robert Sly, combined 1 January 2022 by ProCon Connor Rothwell, Facts Sheet added 24 January 2022 by Det Joel Mewburn). YouTube channel records @vrgameplay9609 and i-krush / ike rushton (joined 24 January 2022); @kandykingX witness statement, 18 January 2022. Held by Anthony Smith.
Documents for Prosecution 1
Beat Saber Event, December 2021
@kandykingX's own public gaming event, promoted from his Facebook account. The publicly broadcast event was the source of the four images that formed the recording charges; the images were screenshots from this public stream, not covert home recordings as sworn.
↓ View / download PDFBail Application Transcript, 21 June 2022
Full transcript of the bail application hearing following the fresh charge (second prosecution). Includes the detention application pressed by police and the bail conditions imposed.
↓ View / download PDFSolicitor's Reporting Letter, Charges and Outcome
Reporting letter from my solicitor confirming the outcome. Seven matters were heard together. Four recording charges and the bail breach dismissed not guilty. Two distribution charges: convicted and fined $500 on each. A two-year ADVO followed by operation of law.
↓ View / download PDFPACER Social Worker, DV Acknowledgement
A police-embedded mental-health social worker wrote describing what I had experienced as "coercion and control within your relationship," and offered to refer me to a domestic and family violence service.
↓ View / download PDFRelated prosecutions: Prosecution 2 (H91613788) and Prosecution 3 (H81615839) are covered on their own pages. The full archive, including the oversight record, GIPA tracker, and retaliation timeline, is on the main page.