Tain Stephens, a 20-year-old cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) in Canberra, is facing 79 additional charges, including one related to child abuse material. Police allege Stephens hid a camera inside a soap dispenser in a female bathroom at ADFA to capture intimate recordings of women.

Stephens pleaded not guilty to all charges via telephone in the ACT Magistrates Court. The charges include 77 counts of capturing intimate visual data, one count of possessing, controlling, producing, supplying, or obtaining child abuse material, and one count of using a carriage service to transmit sexual material without consent.

Court documents reveal that Stephens was found by Australian Defence Force (ADF) members "in a waste cupboard" of his accommodation building, after which his mobile phone and other electronic devices were seized. More than 40,000 files were discovered on his devices, with police warning that further forensic examination could reveal additional victims and intimate recordings.

The documents also indicate that Stephens had been previously investigated by Military Police between January and March 2025 for allegedly tampering with soap dispensers in cadet bathrooms. Stephens has been suspended from ADFA and remains on bail in Queensland.

Sources