Former Auckland teacher jailed at home after secretly filming students and women

A former Auckland secondary school teacher who secretly filmed students, including a 14-year-old girl, and women shopping has been sentenced to five months of community detention and 18 months of intensive supervision.

The man, who has been granted permanent name suppression, was sentenced at the Auckland District Court last week after admitting charges of making intimate visual recordings and intimidating a young woman by following her through St Lukes Mall to her car.

The court heard that the investigation began after a 19-year-old woman reported being followed by the man at the Auckland shopping centre in January. A subsequent forensic examination of his phone uncovered multiple covert recordings of students at the school where he worked, as well as women shopping.

The recordings, which dated from December last year until shortly before police seized his phone, included footage of a 14-year-old student and several women.

Teenager followed through shopping mall

According to the summary of facts presented to the court, the 19-year-old woman entered St Lukes Mall one afternoon in January when she noticed an unfamiliar man walking alongside her.

She became increasingly uncomfortable after noticing him watching her inside a shop and then walking within a metre of her as she left. Suspecting she was being followed, she deliberately slowed her pace to check whether he would continue behind her. He did.

Frightened, she called her mother and described what was happening, making eye contact with the man as she spoke. When she eventually left the mall and climbed the stairs towards the parking area, she looked down and saw him standing at the bottom, staring up at her. She rushed to her car, locked the doors and lost sight of him.

Her mother subsequently alerted mall security, which reviewed CCTV footage and identified the man following the teenager and other young women that day.

Phone search uncovers covert recordings

The man's phone was seized by police less than two months later. A forensic examination revealed repeated recordings of students at his school and women in shopping centres. He later told police he had a "voyeurism fetish" and an attraction to women, which he cited as the reason for following them and secretly filming them.

He admitted recording women while following them, claiming he was attracted to post-pubescent women and believed some of those he filmed were around 16. Investigators recovered multiple clips showing the clothed breasts of a 14-year-old student, recorded over a period of approximately two-and-a-half months. Other footage showed the clothed breasts of two women shopping at St Lukes Mall.

The search also uncovered evidence of recordings showing the underwear or buttocks of three women while they were shopping. Although those clips had been deleted, traces remained on the device. The recordings formed the basis of a representative charge of making an intimate visual recording, which the former teacher admitted.

Judge grants permanent name suppression

Judge Nicola Mathers granted the man's application for permanent name suppression, finding that identifying him would likely cause extreme hardship to his long-term partner and could place her at risk of harming herself.

Defence lawyer Ashley Gruebner told the court that her client had demonstrated remorse and taken significant steps towards rehabilitation. She said he had admitted his conduct to police, participated in a restorative justice conference with the mother of the woman he intimidated and donated $1,000 to the victim or a cause of her choice. He had also sought help through Community Alcohol and Drug Services (CADS) to address issues involving cannabis and alcohol and had been attending regular psychological sessions since March.

Gruebner said her client was no longer employed as a teacher and had voluntarily signed a document undertaking not to return to teaching. Disciplinary proceedings before the Teaching Council were expected to begin after the criminal sentencing.

Stress, burnout cited in psychological assessment

The defence also referred to a psychologist's assessment, which reportedly found that the former teacher had been experiencing significant stress and burnout while trying to start a family at the time of the offending.

According to the assessment presented in court, these pressures had increased his vulnerability, while the act of secretly recording women had become increasingly rewarding. However, Judge Mathers noted that the man had initially disputed the suggestion that he was attracted to underage girls when speaking to the pre-sentence report writer.

Instead, he described a long history of watching pornography and developing a tendency to view women primarily through their physical appearance. "I saw women as bodies not people," he told the report writer. He also said his attraction was directed towards women's physical development rather than their specific age.

The judge observed that he had initially rationalised his behaviour, convincing himself that no harm was being caused because the women did not know they were being filmed. "How am I hurting them if they don't know," was how he had viewed his actions. He later acknowledged that his conduct was wrong.

Victim asks offender to leave her alone

Judge Mathers read excerpts from the victim's impact statement, in which the young woman described the distress caused by being followed. "You had no right to take from me what you did that day," she said.

Although she believed in giving people second chances, she made one request should she ever encounter him again: that he leave her alone. The court also heard from the man's long-term partner, who described him as respectful, caring and protective of others throughout their relationship. She said she had witnessed him intervening when women were in vulnerable situations. Taking into account his early guilty pleas, rehabilitation efforts and what she described as genuine remorse, Judge Mathers reduced the sentence.

He was ordered to serve five months of community detention, with a curfew from 9pm to 6am, and 18 months of intensive supervision. Additional conditions prohibit him from associating with anyone under the age of 16, apart from his own children, unless accompanied by an adult supervisor approved by probation services.

The judge also ordered judicial monitoring, requiring him to report back to the court over the coming months. Expressing hope that the offending would not recur, Judge Mathers delivered a pointed message to the former teacher. "I sincerely hope this type of offending has now ceased and you understand that women are not just bodies," she told him.