A trainee surgeon was released on bail Friday after being charged with secretly recording hundreds of colleagues in hospital restrooms across Australia.
Ryan Cho, 28, faces nearly 500 charges linked to some 4,500 intimate videos allegedly captured on phones in staff restrooms at three Melbourne hospitals since 2021, according to documents cited in Victoria’s Supreme Court.
Justice James Elliott ordered Cho’s release on the condition that he live with his parents, who moved from Singapore to Melbourne in anticipation of his release. His parents were also required to post a AU$50,000 ($32,000) surety.
The prosecutor argued that the charges gave Cho an incentive to flee and that he had no meaningful ties to Australia after being suspended from his job. While Cho became an Australian permanent resident in April, he would face deportation if convicted and sentenced to 12 months or more in prison, prosecutor Hammill said.
The judge noted Cho had surrendered his Singapore passport and had no criminal connections that could help him leave Australia.
Police allege Cho recorded intimate images of at least 460 women. The judge noted there is no allegation that Cho disseminated those images.
Cho was arrested in July after a phone was found recording from inside a mesh bag hanging in an Austin Hospital restroom. Police allege he also recorded in restrooms at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Cho’s lawyer, Julian McMahon, rejected prosecutors’ claims that Cho could interfere with witnesses if released. “There’s a sense here that if my client were to engage in the criminal offense of interfering with witnesses, it wouldn’t affect the outcome of the case,” McMahon said. He added that there are likely hundreds of witnesses alleging similar offenses.
Cho was initially charged with six offenses, but another 127 charges were added Thursday, including intentionally recording intimate images without permission.
McMahon said it is too early to tell whether the allegations will go to trial. Cho has not entered pleas.
Cho came to Australia as a student in 2017 and studied medicine at Melbourne’s Monash University.
