A man has been handed a suspended jail sentence after secretly recording people, including a child, in changing rooms at a gym in Wythenshawe. Daniel Michalowski placed his phone under a cubicle and filmed up to 12 women, one man and a child over a three-month period.
He was caught when an employee at the gym spotted Michalowski's phone filming him under his cubicle. Manchester Crown Court heard that the 45-year-old, of Wythenshawe, had also made a number of online searches for voyeurism on pornography sites.
Caught by staff member
Prosecuting, Lawrence Rainford said that earlier this year, as the male staff member finished his shift at 9pm, he met his partner before they went to get changed in the unisex changing rooms. "He noticed the presence of a phone from the adjoining cubicle being withdrawn," he said. "He took the decision to knock on the door and confront the individual."
It was there he discovered Michalowski, and asked him to show his phone, which he did. The man did not see any images of himself, but then asked to have a look at the deleted folder. Michalowski claimed he 'didn't know what this meant', before providing a false name and leaving the changing room.
The man then pointed Michalowski out to his supervisor before security staff stopped him. Police attended and spoke with Michalowski, before requesting to look at the deleted folder in his phone. They discovered a video of a woman getting changed, which had been filmed under a cubicle divider, and he was arrested.
Videos of victims
Further analysis of the phone revealed 19 videos which were 'voyeuristic in nature', capturing 13 separate victims in various stages of undress. In one video, which was two minutes long, it captured a woman naked. In another four-minute-long video, a woman was using a towel to dry herself. In a seven-minute-long video, it captured another woman completely naked as she dried herself.
The court heard there was also a minute-long video of a child. "The videos showed the victims in various stages of undress, and in some cases there were multiple videos of the same victim," the prosecutor said.
In a police interview, Michalowski accepted recording the videos, but denied they were for sexual gratification, instead claiming he filmed 'out of curiosity'.
Victim impact and sentence
The court heard a statement from one of the victims, who said she had previously been the subject of voyeurism when she was a child. "Since then, I don't use cubicles by myself. For this to happen again is awful - I just want justice," she said. The mother of the child also said that she and her husband had decided not to tell them of what happened as they were concerned it would 'destroy their love for their sport'.
Damian Zelazowski, defending, said: "The defendant has acknowledged there was excitement in what he has done. He has undertaken counselling which is looking at the reasons for his offending." Mr Zelazowski said Michalowski, a roofer by trade, had nearly lost his marriage and children as a result, and said he expressed 'embarrassment and remorse'. He was also said to have no previous convictions.
Sentencing, Recorder Sophie Cartwright said: "Members of the public should be able to enjoy hobbies and get dressed afterwards without the risk of sexually motivated offending."
Michalowski, of Mottershead Road, Wythenshawe, was handed 21 months imprisonment suspended for two years and must complete the Building Choices programme, 10 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and 100 hours unpaid work. He was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and must sign onto the Sex Offenders Register, both for 10 years.
