A police officer and his identical twin brother spied on three female tenants using hidden cameras installed in the women's Canberra bedrooms, a court has found.
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Joshua Rod Tiffen and Kenan Lee Tiffen, 44, faced a protracted hearing in the ACT Magistrates Court after pleading not guilty to a combined 10 charges.
A published decision shows magistrate Glenn Theakston recently found the pair guilty of three counts each of capturing visual data in an indecent invasion of privacy.
Mr Theakston acquitted the pair of the remaining charges following a police investigation he described as being "plagued with a series of errors and mistakes".
The case against the Tiffens was that Australian Federal Police officer Joshua and electrician Kenan owned a house in Forde, where they sublet two rooms to female tenants.
By agreement, they covertly fitted hidden cameras in coat racks and televisions in those rooms to spy on three women who lived in them between March and May 2019.
Investigators found evidence of this on Joshua's phone and a laptop in the officer's bedroom when they raided the suburban Gungahlin home in May 2019, discovering the devices contained 42 videos and one still image recorded by the cameras.
Mr Theakston said the twins' WhatsApp message history showed they had "repeated and detailed exchanges involving the planning for, and installation of, cameras in the bedrooms".
The pair also discussed pointing a camera towards a neighbour's bathroom window and installing one in a bathroom.
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There were even exchanges about, as Mr Theakston put it, "the possible future distribution of [the hidden camera] images for a fee".
Mr Theakston ultimately found that even if only one of the brothers was the principal offender in relation to the tenants, the other had been a party to their criminal agreement.
The brothers also faced a joint commission charge of capturing visual data of the neighbour in an indecent invasion of privacy.
Two pictures of the woman, naked, were found on Joshua's phone, while the laptop discovered in the officer's bedroom contained four videos of her in the nude.
However, Mr Theakston said the brothers' WhatsApp conversation about filming the neighbour naked in her bathroom had only occurred after these images were captured.
He was therefore not satisfied there was an agreement to commit the relevant offence at the time the neighbour's privacy was violated, so he acquitted the pair of the charges related to her.
Joshua Tiffen faced a further two charges levelled only at him.
The first was another invasion of privacy allegation, which related to seven video files found on the laptop in his room.
Mr Theakston said these appeared to show women, a girl and a man using a public toilet, but it was unclear whether the cubicle was in the ACT as the charge alleged.
The magistrate also acquitted Joshua Tiffen of that charge because there was no evidence to show who was responsible for putting the camera in the toilet, while he was also unsure which of the twins owned and used the laptop.
The final charge the officer faced was one of possessing child exploitation material, in the form of 2040 pictures and 860 videos found on the computer.
Again, because of doubts over which of the twins owned and used the device, Mr Theakston entered a verdict of not guilty.
The Tiffens, represented by solicitor Tom Taylor and barrister Jack Pappas, remain on bail ahead of their sentencing for the offences against their tenants.
Police have previously said Joshua Tiffen was immediately suspended from duty upon being charged.
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