Seven Matters Across Prosecutions 1 and 2
Dismissed — not guilty
Guilty — $500 each
Dismissed — not guilty
Seven matters were heard together. The four recording charges and the Prosecution 2 AVO contravention were all dismissed — not guilty. The two distribution charges resulted in findings of guilt, $500 fines each, 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 Recording Charges Were Dated to the Intrusion Itself
What Smith Knew
Tony says he was at work on 16 April 2021, rostered 11:23–19:56. He identifies @kandykingX in his security-camera footage and connects it with Google account activity that day. He says he reported the intrusion without knowing the footage would later become part of charges against him.
What @kandykingX Did
Tony identifies @kandykingX in the kitchen at 14:12 and bedroom at 18:55. He says the Nest camera was switched off at 17:42 and 483 photos were shared to accounts belonging to Rushton. Google activity records show a Gmail search for "Ike" at 17:24 and later Drive searches. Tony connects that account activity with the person he identifies in the footage. Rushton later alleged that Smith made "covert recordings" inside his home.
What Police Did (OIC Mewburn)
Charged Smith with recording intimate images. Three of four s.91P counts were dated 16 April 2021 — the day of the intrusion Smith reported. The conduct the prosecution dated to that day was the entry Smith had reported. The COPS record says police could not find images that would constitute an offence. The prosecution proceeded.
Three of the four recording charges were dated 16 April 2021. Tony identifies that as the day of the intrusion he reported and connects his camera footage with the account activity. His complaint is that footage of the intrusion became evidence used to prosecute him.
Public Livestream Presented as Covert Home Footage
Tony identifies the images said to support the recording charges as screenshots from @kandykingX's public Beat Saber gaming livestream. He says the broadcast came from Potts Point Central Hotel in December 2021, and disputes the allegation that these were covert recordings inside his home in early 2021.
A retained compiled brief contains a Facebook Live producer frame, broadcast reference 627999184912424, with the "End Live Video" control visible. Tony identifies the person as @kandykingX and connects the frame with the recording allegations.
What Smith Knew
Tony says he later recognised the alleged "covert recordings" as screenshots from @kandykingX's public gaming broadcast. He points to the retained Facebook Live producer frame.
What @kandykingX Did
Swore in his statement he had "removed all trace of myself and my business from the internet." Record shows the opposite: on 24 January 2022 (the day of Smith's arrest), he opened YouTube channel @vrgameplay9609 whose only upload is the Beat Saber clip the recording charges relied on, plus a second channel with playlists titled "inspiration" and "Fuck You" (last updated 11 April 2022).
What Police Did
The prosecution proceeded on @kandykingX's statement. Tony says the retained Facebook Live frame and YouTube records contradicted the recording allegations.
Beat Saber Livestream — Facebook Broadcast 627999184912424
The retained compiled brief contains a Facebook Live producer frame with "End Live Video" visible. Tony identifies @kandykingX and connects this broadcast with the images charged as "covert recordings" inside his home.
Brief of Evidence H85611724; YouTube channel @vrgameplay9609 (joined 24 Jan 2022)"Police Could Not Find Any Images That Would Constitute an Offence"
A Surry Hills detective reviewing the USB exhibit recorded in COPS before the charge:
The prosecution proceeded regardless. Smith was charged on 24 January 2022. Seven matters were heard together. Five were dismissed. Two resulted in convictions carrying $500 fines each for distributing images that were the record of the intrusion Smith had reported.
COPS Event E83652754 — From Victim Report to Prosecution Basis
What Smith Knew
Believed he was the complainant. Had reported harassment and computer intrusion. Did not know his own COPS event was being repurposed as the basis for charges against him. When he later sought his separate reports under GIPA, the agency did not locate separate events.
What @kandykingX Did
Had sworn a witness statement (18 January 2022) alleging Smith had made covert recordings. Statement became the basis for charges. In the statement, claimed he had "withdrawn from the internet" — record shows he opened YouTube channels on the day of Smith's arrest.
What Police Did
Merged Smith's victim reports into a single COPS event. Wrote the prosecution Facts Sheet into Smith's own complaint event. When Smith later sought his reports under GIPA (GIPAA-2022-0169903), the agency located only this one repurposed event — the separate reports were not located.
The COPS event behind this prosecution was Smith's own harassment complaint. The charges were written into his report. His victim reports became the architecture of his prosecution. When he sought his reports under GIPA, the agency returned only the event that had been repurposed against him.
The Evidence That Sat in the Exhibit System
A USB of evidence Smith had handed in to police was checked into the exhibit system as X0001334775. A later police narrative records that, because Smith had "been previously charged" over the intimate-image matter, the agency treated his fraud and hacking reports as already "reported and investigated" and not requiring further action — even as the USB sat checked into the exhibit system.
The charges built out of Smith's own harassment complaint had become the reason not to investigate the crimes he was reporting.
USB Exhibit — X0001334775
Evidence provided by Smith and checked into the NSW Police exhibit system. Despite being physically in police possession, the agency later recorded that Smith's reports were "reported and investigated" because he had been charged — using the charges built from his own complaint as the reason not to investigate what he reported.
COPS Event E80847316; exhibit X0001334775; command narrative re "previously charged" basis · View the "previously charged" COPS narrative (GIPA release)The PACER Social Worker — April 2023
In April 2023, a Police, Ambulance and Clinician Early Response (PACER) social worker at Sydney City PAC — embedded with St Vincent's Hospital — wrote to Smith describing what he had experienced as:
This was a police-embedded mental health professional who, after engaging with Smith's account of the events, characterised the conduct as domestic and family violence — the very characterisation NSW Police was not applying to @kandykingX's conduct. The referral was offered to Smith. The same framework was not made available to him against @kandykingX: his own AVO application (approximately September 2022) was refused.
Key Evidence
Beat Saber Tournament Entry — 19 December 2021
@kandykingX's own public Facebook post promoting a gaming event. Tony connects the public broadcast with the images charged as covert recordings.
View tournament advertisementDownload tournament advertisementSolicitor's Reporting Letter — Charges & Outcome
Woolf Associates, ref 6501/22, 16 August 2022. Reporting letter confirming the outcome: seven matters heard together. Four recording charges and the Prosecution 2 AVO contravention dismissed not guilty. Two distribution charges: convicted, $500 each. Two-year ADVO followed by operation of law.
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