The Olympic Pool in Newmarket, Auckland. Photo / Jason Dorday.
Hundreds of victims filmed by man in the changing rooms of a central Auckland public pool will stay in the dark about the intimate footage he captured of them.
That’s because police have decided they won’t try identifying the victims in the case, where a 46-year-old Remuera man used his smartphone to covertly film strangers in the changing rooms of Newmarket’s The Olympic Pool.
A survivor of this type of offending says victims have a right to know, and there are ways of alerting people who may have been there during the man’s criminal activity.
“It would be fairly straightforward to list the dates and times [of the offending] and publish those so people could make their own decision on whether to reach out to see if they have been impacted,” the woman told the Herald.
Last Tuesday, the man pleaded guilty to 15 representative charges related to making and possessing the disturbing images and videos.
He has interim name suppression and is scheduled to be sentenced in July this year.
Detective Senior Sergeant Sunny Sun said the offending ran from 2019 to 2025 and included approximately 300 videos and photos.
It’s understood that nearly 400 people were recorded.
“I know news of this sort of offending will be confronting to many people who have frequented this facility over this period. There is no evidence of this material being shared or distributed further,” Sun told the Herald.
“Police have put time into weighing up the task to try and identify victims who appear in this material, some of which dates back many years.”
At this stage, he said police have assessed that this would be a significant undertaking.
Therefore, the police chose not to attempt to identify the victims.
“The man has pleaded guilty to representative charges which cover this period of offending, and these are serious offences. He will be held to account for his criminal activity through the courts.”
Sun said anyone who had concerns about whether they might be involved should contact the police.
This can be done online or via the 105 call service, using the specific reference number 250714/2585.
“We continue to encourage people to be aware of their surroundings, particularly in places where you would expect privacy.”
Sun encouraged the public to report any untoward or suspicious behaviour to police.
Angie, a survivor of similar offending in an unrelated case, said she understood the scale of the crime and task of identifying victims was huge.
However, she believed work needed to be done to alert those impacted.
“It is both the place and the person that the public have a right to know to identify their connection and prevent further harm.”
In sex crime cases where privacy had been abused, she said defendants should be named automatically.
“The people in their lives: their household, family, friends, colleagues - deserve to know the risk they pose to the community.
“It is a hidden risk, and only publicly identifying them will solve it. This game of name suppression and delay and excuses is a sharp irony given the nature of their crimes.”
The Olympic general manager and director, Nick Tyrrell, told members he wished he could have shared information about the situation earlier, but claimed he was not legally able to.
“It makes me sick to my core that it has been going on for so long,” he wrote in an email to customers that was provided to the Herald.
Tyrrell said they were first alerted to the man’s phone usage in the changing room in July last year.
“That was followed up immediately, and we got the police involved.
“Within the week, we had isolated who the person was - they had the membership terminated, and hey were trespassed.”
He told members that everything had been done to prevent the man from returning to the facility.
This is the third such incident in Newmarket to come to light in the last 12 months.
An Auckland man was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention last year for secretly filming 62 women, including inside changing rooms at a Newmarket store, in public showers and toilets.
He also has interim name suppression and is fighting to keep his identity secret.
Another man has been charged with making more than 100 intimate visual recordings of women across Auckland in offending spanning more than three years.
It’s alleged the suspect used devices to film women covertly at various locations, including a Newmarket shopping complex and the bathroom at a central Auckland commercial accommodation complex.
Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers issues including sexual assault, workplace misconduct, media, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.
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