Teacher who secretly filmed girls in public changing room has licence cancelled

Two teenage girls using a changing room showers at a public pool noticed a cellphone on a high ledge. Photo / Getty Images

A former Bay of Islands College teacher who admitted using his cellphone to film women in a bathroom and teenage girls in a public changing room has had his teaching registration cancelled.

Reagan Clive Hills was sentenced in the Kaikohe District Court in January on four counts, three intentional and one reckless, of making an intimate visual recording.

Hills was a teacher and sports coach at Bay of Islands College, but lost his job when the offending was discovered in August last year and was sentenced to six months' home detention followed by 12 months' post-detention conditions and 200 hours' community work.

In a decision released today, the New Zealand Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal censured Hills and cancelled his licence to teach for serious misconduct.

The tribunal said Hills confirmed the police summary of facts from his sentencing, admitted the charge and accepted that his conduct amounted to serious misconduct.

Hills agreed with the tribunal's penalties, which also included that he pay almost $1000 towards the cost of the tribunal hearing.

During his sentencing the court was told two teenage girls using the changing room showers at a public pool noticed a cellphone on a high ledge. They used a towel to knock the phone down, and found it was recording video.

There were three clips, ranging in length from 15 to about 90 seconds, showing girls rinsing themselves in their togs or underwear.

Forensic analysis of the phone's memory card showed an earlier video clip of two women, recorded in June and about 15 minutes long, had been deleted. It had been taken in a bathroom when the phone was hidden by a laundry basket.

Sentencing judge Grant Fraser said Hills' breach of trust was "flagrant and profound," especially from someone who was supposed to protect youngsters' wellbeing.

"The offending is inexplicable for someone in your position ... the loss of your teaching profession is an absolute tragedy considering how long you would have struggled to get yourself through university, then training college, to pursue the career you wanted," he said.

Judge Fraser said he was tempted to impose a jail sentence to denounce the offending and deter others, but that would not be in the interests of the community, Hills or his family. The community would be better served by seeing him rehabilitated and employed, though Hills himself acknowledged his teaching days were over.