Problems

From Peoplebrokers

Solicitor fined $1000 for eavesdropping on flatmate

By MANIKA NAIDOO for The Age

A practising solicitor, obsessed with his flatmate, used a concealed recorder to tape her intimate bedroom conversations, the Melbourne Magistrates Court was told yesterday.

Mr Mark Stanley Plummer, 48, formerly of Simpson Street, East Melbourne, was thrown out of his share-accommodation household on 24 October 1996 when his co-tenants Ms Nerrissa Edwards, 24, and Ms Jane Height, 23, exposed his activities.

Mr Plummer pleaded guilty to two charges of theft and prohibited use of a listening device to record private conversations.

The prosecutor, Mr Stephen Deblin, told the court a search of Mr Plummer's bedroom the next day found a micro-cassette recorder, tapes and several photos of Ms Edwards. The photos were copies of negatives stolen from Ms Edwards' room.

Mr Deblin said Mr Plummer used the voice-activated micro-recorder from 11 April to 14 April 1996 to covertly record conversations between Ms Edwards and her boyfriend while they were in bed. "On the evidence we have, the defendant had an infatuation with at least Nerrissa," he said.

But Mr Tom Danos, for Mr Plummer, said his client, who was the principal tenant at the East Melbourne residence, planted the recorder to catch Ms Edwards smoking.

He said Mr Plummer was an asthmatic and suspected Ms Edwards was smoking and taking drugs - contrary to the house rules.

Mr Danos asked the magistrate to save his client from a conviction, which would bar him from further practice as a solicitor. He said that Mr Plummer, admitted to the bar in 1976, had worked as a legal-aid duty solicitor and held the position as the executive director of a consumer organisation in the United States.

He returned to Australia in 1991 and worked for the Housing Guarantee Fund as a corporate solicitor until he was retrenched in May this year. "He recognises he has a problem and wants to sort it out. Except for this incident he has been a responsible individual. Everyone is entitled to make a mistake," Mr Danos said. In sentencing, the magistrate, Mr Julian Fitz-Gerald, said Mr Plummer's offence was "a gross invasion of privacy". He said it was clear he needed psychiatric help. "I'm very sad when I read these glowing testimonies about your work as a professional lawyer and your work in the community," he said. Mr Plummer was fined $1000 without conviction and placed on a 14-month community-based order.

Beware the Flat Share

MARY VISCOVICH reports,  "Sunday Herald Sun"

A shortage of rental accommodation is forcing some people to make dangerous choices when searching for flatmates.

The Tenants Union of Victoria has reported increased bashings, extortion and theft involving flatmates. Cate Carr, solicitor for the union, said a rush on available houses and flats by university students and more overseas students meant some people were ignoring basic safety pre-cautions.

"When things go wrong they can go very wrong," she said. "A person who moves in with someone who has the lease or owns the house has no tenancy rights."

Clinical psychologist Les Posen said people should trust their instincts if they felt wary about a potential flatmate.

Chris Kaine, director of a flatmate-matching agency, said a South Yarra woman recently arranged to meet a potential flatmate who answered her advertisement at her home. He failed to come to the meeting, but arrived that night with an accomplice to rob the place.

Another woman who rejected a man as a flatmate opened her door the next day to be confronted by the man waving a rifle in her face.

"People are giving out their addresses far too easily and letting total strangers into their homes," she said.

"I advise people to take the person’s phone number, ring them back and get as many details as possible, name, address and so on. Never just give your details out,"

Ms Kaine said most complaints involved personality clashes between flatmates.

"It can get so out of hand," she said. "People will do things like staple the milk carton shut if they don’t want their flatmate to use it."

Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed at least 40 per cent of Australians planned never to marry, making the role of flat-sharing more important, Ms Kaine said.