Hunter Valley businessman used hidden cameras to spy on partner’s child and multiple colleagues

A well-known Hunter Valley businessman said he was “f**ked in the head” after an disturbing discovery by his then partner which included secretly filming videos of her child and a number of his work colleagues. New details in the explosive case can now be revealed.

A Hunter Valley businessman was arrested in September last year, 2023, charged with secretly filming girls and women without their knowledge. He has pleaded guilty to 26 charges. iStock.

A hunch by a woman that her partner of three years was cheating on her proved to be so much more damning when she uncovered that he had been secretly filming her 12-year-old daughter and a number of his work colleagues with hidden cameras.

The man aged in his 50s, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was arrested in early September last year following an investigation into the discovery of several intimate images and videos.

Now the explosive details of the case can be revealed after he pleaded to 26 charges in Newcastle Local Court this week in front of a number of his victims watching on.

His offences relate to nine female victims, including three children, with the offences dating back until August 2019 at four different locations within the Hunter Valley, Port Stephens and Newcastle.

The well-known Hunter Valley businessman filmed his work colleagues with a hidden camera in the bathroom. Picture: iStock.

Court documents have disclosed the sordid details of the man’s extent to spy on people close to him after he installed multiple videos camera at his home, his partner’s house, two holiday homes and the bathroom of his workplace to record his victims in “compromising positions”.

Police facts said the man would regularly stay at his partner’s home in the Hunter Valley, but it was last year that she became concerned that he was being unfaithful when he refused to provide a key to his home.

On September 2, he was staying at his partner’s home but had gone to a social event that evening when she decided to look through his overnight bag which was left in the bedroom.

There she found a secret phone wrapped in a children’s sock and, when she gained access, found an app called ‘HomeEye’ which revealed videos of her 12-year-old daughter naked and showering, according to police facts.

The partner took the phone, threw his possessions outside before confronting him the following day.

She quizzed him on why he had taken the video to which he replied he didn’t know and “it was so stupid. I’m just f--ked in the head. I guess I was just curious”.

Court documents said when she told him she had informed a friend who was a police officer he said to her, “you don’t know what you’ve done (name). I’m going to lose my job … this is suicidal stuff”.

She turned the phone over to police which prompted a raid on his Hunter Valley property and the discovery of a trove of creepy videos which also included colleagues at his workplace.

Officers also raided his place of work and seized a iPad, laptop and iPhone.

Police were also alerted to a delivery from China to his home containing a camera that had remote and application-based access and controls, according to police facts.

The man pleaded guilty to 26 charges in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday 28th August, 2024. Supplied Amy Ziniak

During an investigation of his mobile phone police uncovered 11 videos of child abuse material which featured his partner’s daughter on several occasions in the bathroom which had been recorded from outside the window looking in and from in the roof cavity.

Police facts said there were also 16 video files containing six women filmed at his workplace in the bathroom without their knowledge, some videos including slow motion where he would zoom in on intimate areas and was able to ‘live monitor’ and adjust the camera positions during the recordings.

The man pleaded guilty to 11 counts of film a person in a private act without consent and 15 counts of intentionally record an intimate image without consent.

The remaining 17 charges were withdrawn and dismissed which included 13 counts of using a child under 14 for the production of child abuse material and four counts of intentionally recording an intimate image without consent.

The man has been in custody since his arrest in September last year and, following his pleas, will now head to the District Court next month for a sentence date.

He previously made an application for bail in July but that was refused by Magistrate Ian Cheetham.