Woman who busted a pervert filming her naked in a Kmart changing room opens up on her ordeal and her long battle for justice
- Veronica Schmidt was in a change room when she noticed she was being filmed
- The Kmart workers asked her not to call police because it was inconvenient
- Ms Schmidt said it took a year for the man to be found guilty of the harassment
A New Zealand woman who caught a pervert filming her as she undressed in a Kmart change room as opened up on her ordeal and year-long battle for justice.
Veronica Schmidt screamed in terror when she looked down to find a phone filming her as she stood in the women's change room naked in 2019.
'Women, startled by the noise, appeared from fitting rooms, but the door of the cubicle next to mine stayed shut,' the Radio New Zealand reporter wrote for NZ Herald.
She yelled for the man to 'open the f**king door' and give her his 'f**king phone'.
The man behind the door was Walid Soliman.
A year ago Veronica Schmidt (pictured) was trying on clothes when she looked down to find a phone filming her as she stood in the women's change room naked
When he finally opened the door he responded with a shrug and he asked 'what?' before turning and deleting any content he had captured.
A woman in another change room named Saskia blocked the corridor so the culprit didn't escape.
She questioned why Soliman was in the female change rooms.
'The police arrived. One of the officers headed for the man, the other came to me. She looked directly at me and said: "I'm sorry this has happened to you",' Ms Schmidt wrote.
Soliman denied any wrongdoing and a year-long legal battle ensued.
From that day Ms Schmidt didn't want to ever take her clothes off.
She would do countless sweeps of her own bathroom and home before getting undressed.
The Radio New Zealand reporter (pictured) yelled for the man to 'open the f**king door' and give her his 'f**king phone'
Solimon had three different stories about what happened, first that he was filming himself trying on shoes and second that he had filmed Ms Schmidt but forgot because he was on the painkiller Tramadol.
The final story was that he had put his phone on the floor as he was changing and Ms Schmidt saw it and mistakenly believed it was in her own change room.
He was eventually charged and pleaded not guilty. A trial date was set for exactly ten months after the horrific event unfolded.
The trial was axed and rescheduled one month later, with Ms Schmidt spending an hour-and-a-half on the witness stand with Soliman watching her.
The journalist sat through hours of evidence, including police tapes where Soliman stumbled through interviews.
Soliman was found guilty of filming Ms Schmidt.
He is due to be sentenced in October.
Woman who busted a pervert filming her naked in a Kmart changing room opens up on her ordeal and her long battle for justice (stock image)
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