Man spied on woman via phone

A woman remains fearful pictures or personal information from her phone could be posted to the internet after a man illegally accessed the device by installing spyware.

In a rare prosecution, halfway through his trial Jesse Norman Mair admitted a charge of intentionally accessing a computer system and gaining access to it without the woman’s knowledge.

The woman was known to Mair and, in February and March last year, the 33-year-old installed on the phone an app called Spyfone.

A police summary of the offending said the app gave Mair full control over and access to the phone, including remote access to its cameras and microphone. He could view her screen, including passwords, browser history and apps, and intercept phone calls and messages.

In the Levin District Court yesterday, Judge Stephanie Edwards sentenced him to four months’ community detention.

The offending came to light when Mair asked the woman about what was said during a consultation she had with a doctor in March last year. The woman asked how he knew about it and Mair said he listened to it through her phone. ‘‘You then told her you had full control over her phone using that Spyware application and that she could not remove it, and only you could,’’ the judge told Mair.

The woman accepted Mair had then removed the app, although it later became clear it remained until early April.

The woman’s victim impact statement said the offending sent her into a ‘‘crazy place’’. Knowing Mair was good with technology made the woman concerned he had accessed her other electronic devices, which she couldn’t then afford to replace.

‘‘She lived the constant fear that you were watching her,’’ the judge said. ‘‘That was alleviated to some degree after the police examined the devices, but she says that it has never really gone away.’’