Police continue efforts to identify alleged victims

A registered child sex offender is accused of secretly filming women inside public toilets at Ballina’s Tamar Village shopping centre.

Police allege Shane Roy Jones, 50, used a mobile phone to record women inside the toilets last Thursday by placing the device beneath the gap between cubicles.

At least 11 women have so far been identified in the footage.

However, court documents show police are still working to identify all alleged victims, meaning some women who used the toilets that afternoon may still be unaware they may have been recorded.

Jones has been charged with 11 counts of intentionally recording an intimate image without consent and one count of possessing a prohibited drug.

Court records describe him as a registered child protection offender in Queensland.

Ballina News Daily has also obtained earlier court reporting in which a prosecutor told Brisbane Magistrates Court Jones had a criminal history spanning 15 pages and was serving a suspended sentence for sexual offences against children.

The current charges relate to alleged recordings of adult women.  Police facts tendered to the court indicate no children have been identified among the alleged Ballina victims.

Police allege CCTV footage showed Jones in the women’s toilets adjacent to Martins Bakery on May 28 between about 12.30pm and 3pm.

The recordings allegedly began about 1pm.

According to police facts, the final alleged incident occurred just after 2.30pm when a woman noticed what she suspected was a camera device and called police.

Police later seized Jones’ mobile phone and allege investigators found 31 videos and five images connected to the incidents.

“I woke up crying”

One of the alleged victims told Ballina News Daily she felt violated after police informed her she had allegedly been filmed.

The woman, who works at a business within Tamar Street Village, said police told her she had allegedly been recorded by a device positioned beneath the gap between toilet cubicles.

“I woke up crying,” she said.

“I felt completely violated.

“It’s bad enough he filmed adults, but many children use those toilets also.”

Released on bail twice

Court records show Jones who is unemployed is currently staying at a Ballina CBD motel under a NSW Government-funded emergency accommodation arrangement while receiving assistance from local welfare agency Social Futures.

He was granted police bail last Friday under conditions that included bans on attending public toilets, entering shopping centres within Ballina township and possessing any camera or image-recording device.

The following day police later conducted a compliance check at his accommodation and allegedly found a camera in his room.

Jones was then re-arrested and faced Ballina Local Court on Tuesday.

Despite the alleged breach, his bail was continued with additional conditions.

No findings have yet been made in relation to the charges.

Jones is due to reappear in Ballina Local Court on July 16.