John William Goodwin sentenced for filming women, girls without their consent

A notorious peeping Tom was caught with more than 180 videos he’d filmed of teenage girls and women through their bedroom windows.

A notorious peeping Tom who filmed more than 180 videos of teenage girls and women through their windows did it for the “thrill” of getting caught, a court has been told.

John William Goodwin, 51, was sentenced in the Brisbane District Court on Wednesday to four years and six months in jail.

The 51-year-old pleaded guilty to 18 charges of observations or recordings in breach of privacy and a single charge of possessing child exploitation material.

Crown prosecutor Dejana Kovac told the court that the 185 recordings depicted women and children inside their homes, bathrooms, bedrooms, living rooms or kitchens.

John Goodwin filmed women without their consent while they were dressing in their homes.

The 12 women captured, aged between 15 and 49, were unaware they were being filmed while they were either “fully or partially naked”.

Some of the women were even being filmed while they were in the shower, the court was told.

Goodwin had recorded the women through the windows of their homes in the Brisbane suburbs of Carina and Camp Hill between February and May 2021.

Ms Kovac said the victims ranged from school-aged teen girls in their uniform to a heavily pregnant woman.

Goodwin had repeatedly returned to the homes to continue filming the victims.

The videos varied in length; one as short as 15 seconds and one as long as four minutes and 45 seconds.

Ms Kovac said Goodwin had blamed the women for their “lack of window covering to give him the ability to peek into their homes”.

“He committed the crimes for the thrill of being caught but was aware of his offending and that would have escalated had he continued to remain in the community,” she said.

“He struggled taking ownership of his actions but did do the (diversion) programs (in jail).”

He was sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Ms Kovac said Goodwin’s offending “had a substantial impact on at least four victims”.

Judge Deborah Richards ordered Goodwin to serve four years and six months in jail but granted he be eligible for parole from Wednesday after spending 26 months already in pre-sentence custody.

The court was told Goodwin was evaluated by a psychologist who found Goodwin was better suited to having “safeguards in place” to ensure he didn’t reoffend.

“You’d indicated your life was not good at the time, you’d come home from work, drink and watch porn,” Judge Richards said, referring to the psychologist’s report given to her.

“You decided jail wasn’t that bad so you were going to go and commit more offences which you did.”

Goodwin previously served eight years in prison after being sentenced in 2014 for similar offending.

The court was told he reoffended a few months after his parole ended.

Goodwin was also sentenced on Thursday to serve two years and six months in jail concurrently for possessing child exploitation material, a hand-drawn image, while he was in custody.

The court was told he’d bought the image along with other sexualised material but was unaware it contained child exploitation.

Goodwin also pleaded guilty to subsequent charges after police found nearly 9000 images on his phone, with many being child exploitation related.

Judge Richards took his guilty plea into account when handing down her final sentence on Thursday.

Originally published as John William Goodwin sentenced for filming women, girls without their consent