Police officer Joshua Tiffen and twin Kenan found guilty of using hidden cameras to spy on tenants

Twins Joshua and Kenan Tiffen have been found guilty in the Magistrates Court. Photo: Albert McKnight.

A former police officer and his brother have been found guilty of spying on their female tenants with cameras hidden in a house they rented out in Canberra in 2019.

Magistrate Glenn Theakston recently handed down his decision in the ACT Magistrates Court on former Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer Joshua Tiffen and his identical twin brother, electrician Kenan Tiffen, finding each guilty of three counts of capturing visual data.

He said the prosecution’s case was that the twins owned a house in Canberra in which they used a number of hidden cameras in the bedrooms to watch the private activities of three female tenants.

Police found hidden cameras behind the front plastic housing of television sets and small glass windows on coat rack fittings in bedrooms. Wiring connected the coat rack cameras to a power supply in the roof space.

Magistrate Theakston said the twins messaged each other about planning and installing cameras in the bedrooms and the possible distribution of images for a fee.

There was also evidence that miniature cameras were bought under Joshua and Kenan’s names and small cameras, associated parts and manuals were found in their bedrooms.

A laptop found in the house had videos taken on a hidden camera of the first tenant while she was naked in her room and getting dressed.

“The images located on the laptop computer demonstrated that the cameras were, in fact, used to capture images of the first tenant,” Magistrate Theakston said.

“I am satisfied that one or both of the defendants used the cameras for that purpose and that no reasonable hypotheses to the contrary remains open on the evidence.”

He said the laptop also had videos of the second tenant when she was getting dressed and the two brothers had messaged each other about her naked appearance.

Videos of the third tenant were found on Joshua’s mobile phone, and the twin’s messages also included comments about this woman’s naked appearance and the difficulties Kenan had playing back footage.

Magistrate Theakston was satisfied that if only one brother committed the main offence against each of the tenants, then the other was at least reckless about the commission of the offence.

However, he found several other charges weren’t established. The twins will be sentenced at a later date.