Tourist’s lewd public act ends in big fine

A South Australian tourist has been fined $2000 after strong circumstantial evidence found him guilty of performing an obscene act in front of a teenager at Cable Beach. Peter Garfield Crosby, 54, was found guilty in Broome Magistrate’s Court of the lewd act in front of a 16-year-old girl while she sunbathed north of the rocks at Cable Beach. The court was told the girl had gone to the beach with her father and pet dog in August 2019 when she went to an isolated area at the foot of sand dunes to sunbathe and watch videos on her phone. After about 20 minutes, she looked around to check where her father was and made eye contact with Crosby, who was naked and performing the act while he lay about 3m from her. Shocked and upset by the incident, the girl gathered her belongings and walked away while Crosby gathered his belongings and headed for the water. She noted he was wearing a straw-coloured hat with a drawstring, had a grey moustache, and was of solid build. In evidence, the girl said she kept an eye on Crosby as she went to her father and told him what had happened. She said she later pointed out Crosby wearing a light blue shirt emblazoned with a large logo and navy blue board shorts with accents of red and orange and carrying a black backpack on his back as he began to walk up the beach to the carpark. The girl and her father both told the court they followed Crosby in their car up to the carpark before the girl began taking photos of him and the hire scooter he was riding. The pair then followed Crosby from the Cable Beach carpark to the hotel he was staying at and called the police in the process. Police searched Crosby’s hotel room, where they seized a light blue shirt emblazoned with a Harley Davidson logo and navy blue shorts with red and orange flowers, and took photos of his black backpack and hire scooter. In evidence, both the girl and her father said they were very confident they had not mistaken Crosby for someone else because it was a quiet afternoon and there was nobody else on the beach that looked similar to Crosby at the time. Despite the police investigation noting the girl was unable to positively identify Crosby on a “digi-board” which featured multiple pictures of men who had a similar appearance to what she had described, she and her father were able to verify the clothes Crosby wore when shown them in court. In handing down the decision, Magistrate Stephen Sharratt said the trial was not a case of identification but instead whether the circumstantial evidence added up. Mr Sharratt found while north of the rocks at Cable Beach was known to be a space for exhibitionists, the act Crosby performed in a vast, public area was obscene. Despite the absence of the straw-coloured hat and the fact Crosby had a light brown moustache, Mr Sharratt found the circumstantial evidence against Crosby was very strong.