Christchurch ‘Peeping Tom’ Moana Tekawa jailed for intimate recordings

Christchurch 'Peeping Tom' Moana Tekawa appears for sentencing in the Christchurch District Court. Pool photo / Alden Williams

• Several young women, many of them university students, reported Moana Tekawa for covertly filming them in their homes.
• It’s not the first time the 57-year-old ‘Peeping Tom’ has been caught spying on women.
• He was previously sentenced in 2017 for similar offences in Auckland, receiving three years and six months in prison.

A young woman has told a ‘Peeping Tom’ she will never forget the night she found out he’d filmed her naked after sneaking onto the property she shared with other university students.

“Whenever I think about you waiting for us to get in the shower, filming us, it makes me sick.”

The woman was one of six victims that Moana Tekawa was accused of taking intimate photos of.

The 57-year-old was arrested in April last year after police launched an investigation following complaints from women in the Riccarton area - where many Canterbury University students live.

Today Tekawa, who has a history of spying on women and was previously known as the Grey Lynn ‘Peeping Tom‘, was jailed for making and possessing thousands of intimate visual recordings of young women between 2023 and 2024.

Other charges included preparing to commit a crime in public, failing to carry out obligations in relation to a computer system search, burglary, and cannabis possession.

Two of his victims were in the Christchurch District Court for his sentencing today, while the other four had statements read out on their behalf.

One by one, they recounted their fears.

“I will never forget the night I found out I had been filmed naked, who do you think you are sneaking on to my property,” one student said.

“We are real people, not people you can violate; countless nights I was unable to get to sleep knowing you were outside our window.

“You couldn’t even own up to what you had done, but you were happy to sneak on to our property and do what you have done.

“You have caused my friends and me so much pain and caused us emotional scars that will last forever.“

Another woman said everyone in her seven-girl Christchurch flat was scared.

“For weeks I couldn’t sleep and had regular nightmares.”

She said there were thousands of intimate images, and it made her sick to see the images of herself.

“A shower is a private place; he had planned out his actions, my privacy was invaded, no one should have to go through this.”

Another victim, aged 23, said she had shared a flat with four others when she was targeted.

“I did not think this could have happened to me, I was terrified at the thought of someone watching me.

“I felt anxious as I did not know why someone would do such a thing; I was embarrassed.”

Another victim said she felt sick by the offending and had blocked the entire situation out.

Neighbours had told her someone was lurking about, and police then visited her flat to discuss the matter, she said.

At least 10 other girls had been identified, with the images going back to 2019, she said.

“Although I have been supported throughout the entire process, this has taken a mental toll on me.”

Another victim said her sense of safety had been shattered.

“I find myself constantly on edge looking over my shoulder.

“The process has been overwhelming and draining.

“It is something I never asked for.”

Abuse, foster care, drugs and alcohol

Defence lawyer Elena Stavrovska said her client had been exposed to alcohol at an early age and used drugs daily, but an alcohol and drug assessment showed he had taken responsibility to address his offending.

She said he was now finally ready to address what was going on.

He had suffered abuse at a young age and been put in foster care. He was expelled from school at 14 and had never lived a stable life.

She said her client had expressed remorse and shown some insight into his offending.

However, Crown prosecutor Christina Hallaway said there was a lack of remorse and insight into his offending.

Having heard the victim statements in court, she hoped he would understand the impact.

Tekawa was sentenced in 2017 for similar offences in Grey Lynn in Auckland, receiving three years and six months in prison.

Hallaway said it was highly concerning that he was before the court again on similar offending he had previously been convicted for.

Judge Michael Crosbie said he acknowledged the victims and their supporters.

“Clearly your offending had a profound effect on many young women,” he told Tekawa.

“You didn’t have authority to enter their properties or film inside their homes.”

Tekawa during sentencing. Pool photo / Alden Williams

Thousands of images

In August 2023, Tekawa entered a Riccarton property occupied by female university students and snapped 554 naked images of one victim.

Later that month he went to a Riccarton address and filmed a victim in the shower. He was seen by a neighbour and disturbed by the victim.

He entered another property in Riccarton in August and took 348 images of another victim in the shower.

Again, in August, he went to a Riccarton property and took 2631 intimate still images of the third victim.

In early 2024 he entered another Riccarton property and recorded a fourth victim in the process of getting changed. Police located more than 800 images of the victim.

He then went to another Riccarton property and began recording the fifth victim while she was in the shower. Police located 329 still images of victim five.

In February 2024, his actions activated CCTV at a Riccarton property. Later that month police attended a student party in Riccarton and located him near the property where he was arrested on an unrelated matter.

Police later arrested him for burglary and located two cell phones.

Police analysed the phones and found more than 2000 images of one victim, more than 1000 of another, close to 2000 and four videos of another, 2500 and four videos of another, and 620 of another.

The judge said the offending would have been a huge shock for the victims.

“It was highly offensive. There is an overriding sense of degradation.”

He had 16 pages of previous convictions, many related to the recent offending, the judge said.

It was clear that steps had been taken along the way to address his offending, but they had not worked, the judge said.

“This, in my assessment, is much, much more than ‘Peeping Tom’ offending, there were multiple intrusions and thousands of images taken.”

The judge told Tekawa: “You lack insight into your offending. I’m influenced by your lack of insight and impact of offending on others.”

Tekawa was sentenced to 43 months’ imprisonment.

Grey Lynn’s ‘Peeping Tom’

In 2016, the man dubbed the “Grey Lynn ‘Peeping Tom’” pleaded guilty to making recordings on his phone after secretly recording women undressing, teenage girls in bed and couples having sex.

Tekawa, 47, at the time, admitted 14 charges in the Auckland District Court relating to making intimate visual recordings forensically linked to his phone and computer.

According to court documents, Tekawa targeted homes on several Grey Lynn streets, often visiting the same house more than once.

The intimate visual recordings started in February until May when he was arrested after he was caught allegedly peeping through a window on Sussex St in the Auckland suburb.

He was sentenced to three years and six months in prison..

Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the HC Post, based in Whangamata. He was previously deputy editor of Cook Islands News.