Paralympian Cameron Rahles-Rahbula guilty of recording half naked student at Geelong Grammar

A Paralympian accused of recording a topless Geelong Grammar student has been found guilty but has avoided a conviction.

Cameron Rahles-Rahbula has been found guilty of filming a topless, underage student at Geelong Grammar. / Jeff Crow

A Paralympian and former Young Victorian of the Year was found guilty of recording a topless teenager at an elite Geelong school.

Dual Paralympic bronze medallist Cameron Rahles-Rahbula was found guilty in Geelong Magistrates Court of attempting to produce child abuse material and recording a private activity without express consent at Geelong Grammar School in October 2021.

Magistrate Simon Guthrie said there is “no doubt” Rahles-Rahbula, 38, intentionally recorded the student.

He was fined $5000 and placed on an adjourned undertaking without conviction.

“What brings you before the court might be described as poor judgment or something planned,” Mr Guthrie said.

“It seems to me it wasn’t very well planned, it wasn’t particularly sophisticated and nevertheless here we are.”

Rahles-Rahbula, a father of two, was working as a physiotherapist at the Corio campus when a year 12 student who visited him regularly was recorded topless with his mobile phone.

The court was told Rahles-Rahbula propped his mobile phone up against a tissue box and used his wallet to hold it there.

At this point, the victim was topless.

Magistrate Simon Guthrie said there was “no doubt” Cameron Rahles-Rahbula intentionally recorded the underage student.

Rahles-Rahbula placed a towel in front of the camera after the underage student discovered it in an attempt to “conceal it”.

“I was getting more and more suspicious as I was staring at it,” the student told police of noticing the phone.

police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Kerrie Maroney said it was a “deliberate act of videoing the complainant”.

“It is very clear that the accused places the phone on the bench, he places it in a position that captures the entirety of the massage bench that the complainant is lying on,” Constable Maroney said.

As part of his defence, Rahles-Rahbula claimed he propped the phone up because it was the best way to get reception.

He also claimed the metal table the phone was sitting on would interfere with reception, which is why the phone was on its side.

The defence team argued the recording started automatically when Rahles-Rahbula accidentally activated the camera and claimed this was a standard feature of an iPhone.

Constable Maroney said it would take “at least three” actions to record.

“It is not pocket-dialled,” Constable Maroney said.

In his evidence, Rahles-Rahbula said he would not have recorded the student because the “consequences will be dramatic”.

“It will mark my reputation for the rest of my life,” he said.

Originally published as Paralympian Cameron Rahles-Rahbula guilty of recording half naked student at Geelong Grammar