A man accused of targeting women and girls from an elite Brisbane school by digitally altering their photos to remove clothing and sending it to others allegedly told police he did it because it was funny and a hobby.
In a chilling comment the Crown claims Antonio Rotondo, who is also accused of targeting Brisbane Fashion Week catwalk models, allegedly told police “every woman on earth” should fear cameras.
“From a practical point of view you cannot stop deepfakes. Everyone should live in fear of deepfakes,” he allegedly told police.
“Every woman on earth should live in fear of a camera, live in fear of Facebook. There will be nude images of everyone on the internet or mobile devices.”
When the officer asked Rotondo if he understood women shouldn’t have to live in fear of photographs the former software engineer allegedly responded:
“Yeah I agree with that. But … from a guy point of view, from a practical point of view, it’s fun to just press a button and remove their clothes. It’s like X-ray vision glasses.”
The self represented Rotondo has pleaded not guilty at his Brisbane District Court trial to 11 counts of stalking and five counts of distributing intimate images. He has also pleaded not guilty to one count of distributing child exploitation material allegedly relating to a 13 year old student.
Crown prosecutor Ben Jackson on Tuesday said the private school received an email from Rotondo in September 2023 which drew the attention of the principal.
“An email containing images, numerous images of students – that is, many past students and staff that had been altered in a digital way to either remove some of their clothing entirely or to replace that clothing with very revealing lingerie,” he said.
“She was very stressed at that because two of those images included herself.”
The email was sent to other schools, the court heard.
An email was also received by Brisbane Fashion Week director Laura Churchill with photos of models and people associated with the event that had been digitally altered to have their clothing removed.
“Unsurprisingly, she too was horrified at what she saw,” Mr Jackson said.
“It really begs the question: How would any of us feel if an image was altered in that way and then sent to a number of recipients but also put online.
“That’s the question that these women were asking themselves: How did they feel? And the answer was very bad.”
The Crown allege he uploaded all the images except the one of the 13-year-old to a website which others could access.
At the time of allegedly altering and disturbing the images Rotondo was in the Philippines.
He returned in October 2023 and was watching car racing on the Gold Coast when police caught up with him.
Mr Jackson said Rotondo gave a full and franking account.
“It’s just a hobby. They way it works you upload an image, you press a button, and it removes the clothes,” Rotondo allegedly told the police.
“Why would you do it?” the officer asked.
“I’m at the stage of my life where I really don’t care. I think it’s funny,” Rotondo allegedly replied.
“Right, is there any other reason other than a hobby or thinking it’s funny,” the cop asked
“I don’t know the people. I don’t know any of the people in the images. Never met them. Never will meet them.”
The alleged victims will give evidence in a closed court Judge John Allen said.