Oz mobe vid flasher caught red-handed

A 27-year-old Oz man who repeatedly called a woman's mobile and tried, with varying degrees of success, to expose her to live video action of him masturbating was ultimately nailed after getting through while she was in the police station complaining about his mobe-based onanism.

Benjamin Baker, of Corio, Victoria, launched his campaign between 1 and 7 January, when he "repeatedly tried to phone the victim, but she kept missing the calls", as the Geelong Advertiser explains. He did get through on 5 January, "but the victim did not see what was going on because the screen was too dark".

On 6 January, Baker "concealed his number using the anonymous function on his phone and tried, unsuccessfully, to video call the victim eight times within a seven-minute period".

On 7 January, having repeatedly been met with an unanswered mobile, he finally connected. Police Prosecutor, Senior Constable Seaton Lillas, explained: "At 7.53 that evening he made another video call to the victim, and this time she answered. Baker began videoing himself masturbating and angled the phone's camera in such a way that only his penis and hand were filmed. On seeing this, the victim hung up."

Baker then continued to make anonymous calls, but came unstuck when the target of his unwanted attention answered one while at the cop shop. Lillas said: "The victim answered the call to find Baker again masturbating himself and she showed the officer taking her statement."

Cue an appearance before the beak at Geelong Magistrates' Court yesterday, where the perp pleaded guilty to charges of "stalking and using a telecommunications device to harrass".

Magistrate Tim McDonald described Baker's conduct as "disturbing", and duly slapped him with a AU$3,000 fine. ®