The vile practice of ‘upskirting’ – where someone secretly holds a camera or mobile phone under a victim’s skirt to get a picture of their underwear – has been declared effectively LEGAL in a US state.
The bizarre ruling followed the case of Brandon Lee Gary, who in June 2013 took pictures up the skirt of a woman as she shopped in the store where he worked.
According to court records, the woman first noticed Gary bending down behind her as if he were tying his shoe.
Later, in another aisle the woman grabbed an item off a shelf and turned to see him bending down with his cell phone out.
She complained to the store manager and security camera footage from the Publix store in Houston County, Georgia, showed Gary place his phone underneath the woman’s skirt at least four times as she shopped.
He was later charged and convicted of invasion-of-privacy and sentenced to five years on probation – but in a decision made last week, the state Court of Appeals threw out Gary’s conviction, finding that no law in Georgia criminalises the “reprehensible” conduct.
Judge Elizabeth Branch wrote: “In closing, we note that it is regrettable that no law currently exists which criminalises Gary’s reprehensible conduct.
“Unfortunately, there is a gap in Georgia’s criminal statutory scheme, in that our law does not reach all of the disturbing conduct that has been made possible by ever-advancing technology.
“The remedy for this problem, however, lies with the General Assembly, not with this Court.”
Judge Amanda Mercier, joined by Judges Herbert Phipps and John Ellington, disagreed on the verdict.
She said: “The activity recorded in this case was the activity of the private areas of the victim’s body covered by clothing while she walked and shopped.
