Daniel Albertina was arrested after he was caught in the act videoing a teenager using the toilet at an Odeon cinema in Liverpool. When police investigated they found a stash of indecent images.
Further investigations unearthed a slew of repugnant offences by Albertina, including the secret filming of a girl in the shower and amassing an obscene collection of indecent images of children. Labelled a “monster” in court, the paedophile huddled over, his head clasped in his hands as details of his vile “secret life” filled the courtroom.
The sordid tale continued at Liverpool Crown Court where it emerged that a 16 year old boy on an outing to Odeon Switch Island noticed the intrusive mobile phone from an adjacent cubicle during a mid-movie bathroom break last year.
Prosecutor Paul Becker recounted how the teenager confronted Albertina, who resides on Eastbourne Road in Aintree, in the restroom before alerting cinema staff. Police identified the 39 year old through his employment with Delta taxis after learning he arrived at the venue in his cab.
This discovery resulted in the seizure of a laptop and two mobile phones from him, leading to the recovery of 165 appalling child abuse images, some of which featured a teenage girl showering – footage taken by Albertina himself, reports the Liverpool Echo
Officers also discovered a collection of extreme pornographic images featuring sexual acts with cows and mice. During questioning, he confessed to detectives that he had “committed offences of voyeurism over six weeks on about six occasions” at the same cinema and “stated that he had an attraction to young males and females”.
In a statement read out in court on his behalf, the boy expressed: “Following the incident, I didn’t leave the house for a couple of weeks on my own. I used to go the the cinema on a regular basis, but I no longer feel safe.
“I’m now concerned about using public toilets. It still knocks me sick knowing what this monster did to me. I feel like this was an invasion of privacy. I should be able to use them without something like this happening to me. This should have been a private area where I should have been able to use the toilet in privacy.”
Albertina has no previous convictions. Ken Heckle, defending, told the court: “He understands that he has destroyed many lives. He is, however, a man of 39 years of previous good character.”
The defence counsel opened up about their client’s lapse into criminal behaviour, detailing to the court: “While he sits in your lordship’s court full of guilt, shame and embarrassment, he wants assistance with regards to these matters. This defendant has been brutally honest in not only accepting the case against him but saying that his sexual issues and problems have been there for some considerable length of time, effectively a secret to all concerned – a secret life separate from his family, who he was providing for in full time employment.”
His lawyer continued: “He is not full of self pity. He is an intelligent person. This was previously his dark secret. It is no longer secret. It is out in the open. He can discuss it with people rather than harbouring these terrible thoughts. He wants to get help so that he does not find himself in this position.”
In a final twist, Albertina pleaded guilty to two counts of voyeurism, four charges of possession of indecent images of children, nine offences of making indecent images and four matters of possession of extreme pornographic images. During the proceedings, he cut a sorrowful figure, dressed in a turquoise jumper and frequently burying his face in his hands before receiving an 18-month prison sentence.
During sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC expressed his dismay at the abhorrent behaviour that came to light: “All of this came to light as a consequence of an incident which happened at the Odeon cinema at Switch Island. What came to light was a quite disgraceful, appalling catalogue of conduct, committed by you and arising out of your obsession, which you have had for many years, in relation to sexual gratification in relation to young children.
“This was not the first time that you had done this. It is clear from what you said to the police that you had got into the habit, having used the toilet after dropping off a customer and realised that it was possible for you to go into the toilets and use your telephone to take a picture or record what was happening in the adjacent cubicle.
“This is outrageous conduct. It is not often that this court is shocked. Sadly, we have seen it all. But these are really bad images of their type.”
In addition to his sentence, Albertina was burdened with a five-year restraining order and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, alongside the mandate to sign the sex offenders’ register for a decade.