Man jailed for taking more than 10,000 intimate photos of women

RNZ News

20-05-2025

Moana Tekawa in the Christchurch District Court on 20 May.
Photo:
Stuff / Alden Williams
A prolific serial offender has been sentenced to three years and seven months in prison after admitting secretly taking more than 10,000 intimate photos and videos of Christchurch women.
Dubbed the 'Grey Lynn peeping Tom' after similar offending in Auckland almost a decade ago, Moana Tekawa had admitted secretly recording the young women who lived in flats near the University of Canterbury between 2023 and 2024.
Sentencing Tekawa on multiple charges - including making and possessing intimate visual recordings, burglary, possession of cannabis and other charges - Judge Michael Crosbie called the offending degrading and demeaning, and said its sheer scale went far beyond peeping tom offending.
He acknowledged the young women who were present in court, as well as those that were not, and thanked them for their victim impact statements.
The court heard from five of the victims, who spoke of the devastating impact of Tekawa's actions.
Many of the women spoke of feeling violated, having ongoing anxiety and nightmares, struggling with sleep and panicking when darkness fell or when they had to shower.
One woman said she and her flatmate cowered in their home holding kitchen knives while they waited for the police to arrive after she noticed Tekawa's hand and mobile phone at the window while showering.
Another told the court of her horror at seeing a video a neighbour made of Tekawa at their bathroom window.
"I was absolutely infuriated, my blood was boiling and I was in complete and utter shock.
"Who do you think you are, sneaking onto our property in the first place? It makes me so angry that you thought you had the right to come and go from our house whenever you wanted. While you continued doing it to other girls, I was holding my friends while they cried because of what you have done to us.
"Whenever I think about you waiting for us to get in the shower, sneaking along the side of our house with your phone extender and videoing us naked through our bathroom window, for your own pleasure, it makes me sick.
"Every girl knows they have to keep their guard up, watch their back and keep their wits about them when they are walking alone at night, but now we have to do it when we're showering and getting changed in our own houses where we should feel most safe? It's completely unfair, but because of people like you, its become our reality.
"Home is where we should feel most safe, and a bathroom is a private space within our homes. My privacy was invaded by a disgusting male that thrives off intimidating and victimising young women."
Another victim said every aspect of her well-being had been affected, and her ability to trust had been severely damaged.
Tekawa stood with his arms folded and eyes averted throughout the sentencing.
Photo:
Stuff / Alden Williams
Tekawa stood with his back to the courtroom, arms folded and eyes averted throughout the sentencing.
Defence lawyer Elena Stavrovska said Tekawa had severe addiction issues, and reported being high on methamphetamine every day for most of his adult life, unless he was in prison or residential care.
He had been introduced to alcohol at the age of two or three, which became a substantial alcohol addiction later in life, before graduating to cannabis and methamphetamine.
She submitted there was a link to Tekawa's offending, who was using methamphetamine heavily right up until he was arrested, and his perception and state of mind was "warped".
Despite comments to the contrary in the psychological report presented to the court, Tekawa was remorseful, and had gained insight into the gravity of his offending since detoxing in custody, Stavrovska said.
Crown prosecutor Christina Hallaway said she was concerned that Tekawa had previously been before the court on very similar offending.
She submitted there was not necessarily a causal link between Tekawa's addiction issues and his offending, and noted that regardless, intoxication was not a defence.
The Crown was concerned by the lack of remorse and insight from Tekawa into his offending, and hoped hearing the victim impact statements had given him some understanding of the impact of his offending, Hallaway said.
The investigation began after police received complaints from several young women about incidents in 2023 and 2024, but it was not until police attended a late night out-of-control student party in Upper Riccarton in 2024 that they noticed Tekawa acting suspiciously and arrested him on an unrelated matter.
On searching him, police found an improvised 'selfie stick' down his pants, and another cellphone down his trouser leg near his sock.
Two days later, police arrested Tekawa on burglary charges.
He initially denied the charges, and refused to give police the pin code for his phone.
When police showed Tekawa CCTV footage of him entering a property on Rudleigh Ave, he stated: "It could be Snoop Dogg."
Police discovered thousands of still and video images on the 57-year-old's phones - more than 12,000 photos and about 10 videos, according to the police summary of facts.
At least one of the women has never been identified.
On one occasion, a neighbour spotted Tekawa and filmed him, but Tewaka was startled by the woman dropping a clump of hair out the window and fled. Police were called, but were unable to find him.
On another, Tekawa was spooked by a CCTV camera and fled.
Judge Crosbie told Tekawa his offending had clearly had a profound effect on the lives of many young women.
"Due to the quality of your cellphone system - or lack of - the exact times and dates have been hard to confirm, but police believe you recorded at least some of the victims on multiple occasions."
He noted that some of the women found in images on Tekawa's phone remain unidentified.
The offending constituted a gross invasion of privacy, and was degrading and demeaning, Judge Crosbie said.
Judge Crosbie praised the victims for their courage.
"I acknowledge the bravery of the victims coming forward and being prepared if they had to, to go through to a trial. This offending coming to light must have been a huge shock for all of them. It's been carried out for the most part in secrecy. It's been a gross intrusion of their privacy. It was highly offensive. And recorded intimate moments."
While it may be of little solace to the victims, there was no suggestion of any wider distribution of the images, Judge Crosbie said.
But the sheer number of images and multiple intrusions pushed Tekawa's actions far beyond 'peeping tom' offences.
He highlighted Tekawa's 16 pages of previous convictions, including some for the same type of crime.
Judge Crosbie said he could not give any sentencing credit for remorse based on comments Tekawa made, including that he only thought the charges were serious because the lawyer had told him they were, and that he had not "done any harm".
He sentenced Tekawa to 43 months and two weeks imprisonment.
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