Todd Renfree secretly records women, children at council pools

A Brisbane ex-private schoolboy employed at two inner-city council pools recorded hundreds for his “sexual gratification”, a court has heard.

A former duty manager at two historic council-owned inner-city Brisbane pools secretly recorded more than 390 women and children while they were showering or changing after their swim, a court has heard.

Fortitude Valley man Todd Renfree, 29, a graduate of prestigious Brisbane Grammar School and whose father is a top energy executive, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Friday to five vile offences.

They included three counts of making observations or recordings in breach of privacy and one each of making child exploitation material and possessing child exploitation material.

The court heard Renfree’s offending substantially occurred over two periods in which he was employed as lifeguard and manager, the first at Centenary Pool and the second at Spring Hill Baths.

Fortitude Valley peeping-tom Todd Samuel Renfree, 29. Picture: Facebook

Pool lessee City Venue Management, which leases the acquatic centres from Brisbane City Council, employed Renfree for four years between December 2015 and December 2019, when his offending came to light.

His recordings at Centenary Pool occurred between January 1, 2018 and September 6, 2019, while those at Spring Hill Baths occurred between November 25 and December 1, 2019.

The court heard Renfree placed a recording device in the vent above the women’s showers at Centenary Pool which he was able to control via his phone.

Over a period of about 21 months, Renfree captured at least 151 recordings depicting hundreds of women and children showering and changing.

On September 5, 2019, a female patron discovered the device and reported it to management, who on that day happened to be Renfree.

As such, no action was taken.

Renfree was redeployed a short time later to Spring Hill Baths where he continued his depraved conduct, setting up a recording device in the women’s changerooms on November 25, 2019, which captured an additional three recordings.

Spring Hill Baths. Picture: File

However, a patron discovered the device quickly and reported it to the pool’s manager, who was again Renfree.

He assured her there would be an internal investigation before the matter would be escalated to police, but after not hearing from law enforcement the patron lodged her own complaint via Crime Stoppers Queensland.

A search warrant executed on Renfree’s Fortitude Valley residence on December 2, 2019, discovered his sick trove.

All up, Renfree captured at least 392 patrons across both pools via his secret recording, although as Crown prosecutor Zachary Kaplan noted, “The true number of people is not known”, as analysis of his devices could not capture recordings which Renfree had deleted.

Of those 392 patrons, 26 were children under the age of 16, boys and girls, with 20 of those recordings featuring full nudity.

In addition to patrons of the pool, Renfree made a secret recording of a woman in a bathroom at Fortitude Valley on August 29, 2019.

Centenary Aquatic Centre, Spring Hill. Picture: Richard Walker

Police analysis of Renfree’s devices also uncovered a trove of child exploitation material not connected to his secret recordings: about 100 videos and thousands of images, featuring children performing a variety of degrading acts.

Mr Kaplan described Renfree’s conduct as “persistent, sophisticated (and for) his own sexual gratification”.

Renfree, a “consummate sportsman” who has featured extensively in official BGS publications, had no criminal history prior to this offending, the court heard.

It was submitted on Renfree’s behalf he had a pornography addiction and displayed traits of paraphilia, although Judge Dean Morzone QC told the court Renfree’s persistent interest in teenage girls seemed more indicitave of paedophilia.

The court heard Renfree, a university drop out who worked in a variety of roles outside the pool, including as a law clerk and trade assistant, had attended 18 in-person appointments and many more telehealth consultations with psychologists, doctors and counsellors.

He had been assessed as having a “low to medium” risk of reoffending, the court was told.

Judge Morzone sentenced Renfree to four years’ imprisonment with parole-eligibility after having served 12 months.

The reduction of the standard eligibility after having served one-third of a sentence was due to his impressive efforts at rehabilitation, Judge Morzone said.

Originally published as Todd Renfree secretly records women, children at council pools