A junior surgeon accused of taking explicit images of doctors and nurses in hospital toilets plans to plead guilty if Crown prosecutors consolidate the charges against him. Ryan Yi Cho, 28, from Croydon Hills in Melbourne's east, faces 910 charges related to allegations he secretly filmed more than 450 people in bathrooms and showers across multiple Melbourne hospitals.
On Friday, he appeared at Melbourne Magistrates' Court, where his lawyer Kristina Kothrakis indicated Cho would plead guilty to some but not all charges. 'Your Honour, we're in agreement in relation to the charges that will proceed,' she said. 'What's remaining is discussion around the manner in which they are to be rolled up.'
The court heard prosecutors would not agree to any deal until they had contacted all of Cho's alleged victims to discuss the planned plea. Once agreed, the case is expected to move to the County Court of Victoria, where Cho could face a significant jail term. He remains free in the community after his wealthy parents put up a $50,000 bond.
Cho had initially been remanded in custody but was released after a successful appeal to the Supreme Court of Victoria. The alleged sex offender then dismissed his legal team and hired lawyers from Doogue and George, which represented mushroom killer Erin Patterson.
Cho is accused of setting up illegal recording devices at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Austin Hospital, and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, where police claim he secretly filmed hundreds of people in staff and patient bathrooms. In an earlier statement, police said the charges include stalking, producing an intimate image, and installing an optical surveillance device.
During a bail hearing, the court heard Cho grew up in Singapore and had no prior criminal history. He enjoyed hiking, reading, and had a passion for learning. Cho was first arrested on July 10 after a phone concealed in a mesh bag was discovered in a staff toilet at the Austin Hospital. A subsequent examination of his electronic devices led to numerous new allegations.
At a July 25 court appearance, police said they found 10,374 video and image files of alleged victims on several devices. Victoria Police told the court there could be as many as 460 different people affected, who had all been named in folders on Cho's computer. The folders allegedly contained footage of both men and women using hospital toilets.
Following his arrest, Cho was banned from every hospital where he had worked. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency suspended his medical licence, meaning he can no longer work or study medicine. Police described Cho as a 'devious' offender who knew exactly what he wanted and how to achieve it.
'The accused has demonstrated in his level and pattern of offending that he is calculated and obsessed,' Senior Constable Neral Baykur said at an earlier hearing. 'The accused devoted enormous amounts of time and effort into keeping his colleagues under surveillance in their bathroom facilities.' Baykur added that Cho tampered with surrounding toilets to divert victims into areas where he set up and concealed his device, then spent time downloading and categorising the intimate footage.
Police also claimed Cho was a risk to the general community, as he lived in a shared house and posed an unacceptable risk to his housemates. Analysis of his laptop hard drive indicated that previous female housemates were also likely victims. Police have significant concerns for victims' psychological safety.
The court heard Cho captured much of the footage by hanging mesh bags containing mobile phones on the back of staff toilet doors, which he activated to record hours of footage. One phone allegedly contained 4,500 intimate videos of staff members. One video file ran for more than three hours and allegedly captured various hospital staff in states of undress.
Cho came to Australia in 2017 to study medicine at Monash University, graduating in 2022 with Bachelor of Medical Science and Doctor of Medicine degrees. He became an Australian citizen and worked as a resident surgeon at the Austin. While his original alleged offending was linked to the Austin, he allegedly committed similar offences at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He will return to court on July 9.
