A junior medic who allegedly hid cameras in hospital toilets to take seedy snaps of doctors and nurses now faces more than 130 charges – and a court was told the final total could top more than 500.
Ryan Yi Cho was charged with 127 more offences on Wednesday including producing intimate images and stalking but begged Victorian Supreme Court for bail on Friday.
An earlier bail application by trainee doctor Cho, 28, of Croydon Hills in Melbourne’s east, was denied in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last month.
On Friday, Cho’s parents flew in from Singapore to offer a $50,000 bond to free him pending a trial and revealed they had spent $500,000 on his training to be a doctor.
Cho’s logistics manager dad Wilson Cho also told the court he had paid six months advance for a Melbourne rental property and was prepared to pay more.
Mr Cho also vowed to fully fund his son’s living expenses and legal bills until the criminal proceeding has been completed.
He told Cho’s defence silk Julian McMahon SC that, if freed, he would go on walking treks with his son and read books with him if internet usage was limited by the court.
Junior doctor Ryan Cho (pictured) has been slapped with 127 further charges after allegedly filming staff at three hospitals across Melbourne
Mr McMahon, engaged by top criminal lawyer George Balot, also told the court his client would only be allowed to use a phone which had no recording capabilities.
The court heard Cho, if granted bail, would not be allowed to enter professional workplaces or hospitals and not approach witnesses.
But prosecutor Russell B Hammill opposed Cho’s release and said the accused had already approached one alleged victim, who was an ex-flatmate and a witness.
Mr Hammill told the court Cho allegedly took intimate images of the female who he hadn’t contacted in ‘three or four years’
Mr Hammill also alleged it was assumed Cho contacted the former flatmate in a bid to live with her.
Mr McMahon SC later told the court Cho contacted the female before he was charged in relation to her allegations not after as the prosecution suggested.
Cho was charged by police on Wednesday with 127 further offences relating to alleged offending at the Austin but also at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
The new charges relate to stalking, producing intimate images and installing optical surveillance devices, police said.
Cho’s parents outside the Supreme Court of Victoria on Friday
Officers allege a mobile phone was used as a recording device in staff toilets at all three hospitals, that were used by doctors, nurses and other staff.
Police have confirmed their investigation is ongoing, including looking into other medical facilities where Cho worked between 2020 and 2025.
Victoria Police investigators that said more alleged victims are expected to be identified but the process could ‘take some time’.
Mr McMahon told the court that the charges against Cho are ‘going to grow by hundreds more over the rest of the year’ .
The court heard investigators had almost completed examining various electronic devices and had taken more than 200 statements.
The prosecution expects hundreds more statements will be taken but can’t say how many alleged victims there will be once the investigation is complete.
Mr McMahon said his client had no ties to organisation crime nor the contacts to facilitate a fake passport.
A spokesperson for the Austin Hospital said it continues to focus its full support on all staff members affected and assist with the current police investigation.
Police released footage of the moment they arrested Cho
‘We take the safety and wellbeing of our staff extremely seriously and have comprehensive services in place to support them at this challenging time,’ they told Daily Mail.
‘Given that charges have been laid and the police investigation is ongoing, it is not appropriate to comment further.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre for comment.
During an appearance at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on July 25, the court heard that officers claimed to have found 10,374 video and image files of Cho’s alleged victims on several devices.
Victoria Police told the court there could be as many as 460 different people allegedly affected, who had all been named on numerous folders found on Cho’s computer.
The folders allegedly contained a variety of footage of both men and women using hospital toilets, the court heard.
It was also alleged in court that Cho captured much of the footage by hanging mesh bags containing mobile phones on the back of staff toilet doors, which police allege he activated to capture hours of lewd footage.
One phone allegedly contained 4,500 intimate videos of staff members, the court heard.
Cho’s parents covered up during an earlier hearing in July
One video file ran for more than three hours and allegedly captured various hospital staff in states of undress as they used the toilet, the court heard.
It was also heard that Cho is alleged to have sabotaged nearby toilets by removing flush buttons, clogging them with toilet paper, or locking them from the outside, so colleagues had no other option but to use the toilet he was filming in.
Detectives believe Cho had been allegedly offending across various Melbourne hospitals from as far back as 2021, the court heard.
The court heard police believed the majority of Cho’s alleged victims were doctors, nurses, paramedics and other hospital staff.
But some videos appeared to have allegedly been captured in residential settings, with the court told detectives were afraid they included previous housemates of Cho.
Mr Balot, of Balot Reilly Criminal Lawyers, who unsuccessfully argued his client should be released on bail. on July 25
‘He has engaged criminal lawyers, a psychologist, a sexologist, his parents are in Australia to do whatever it takes to have him released to their care,’ he said at the time.
Cho is a Singapore citizen who has been living in Australia as a permanent resident after completing a Monash University medical degree.
Mr Hammill told the court it was likely Cho will have his visa cancelled and be deported back to his homeland if he is sentenced to a jail term of 12 months or longer.
Mr Hammill also highlighted Cho had no family ties to Australia nor did he own any property.
