Former teacher admits to upskirting over 100 women and children with his phone

WARNING: The story contains upsetting content.

A father out shopping for Christmas decorations with his 5-year-old daughter ended an Auckland teacher’s prolific child sex abuse and covert sexual filming of girls and women.

When the police arrested Malcolm Ross Davidson, a 72 year-old from Massey, they carried out a thorough search of his cellphone and computer devices and uncovered an “extensive collection” of upskirt videos and images.

Court documents seen by Stuff show Davidson captured intimate recordings of 53 girls and 30 adult women. A further 50 girls and women could not be identified and many would not be aware they had been filmed.

In all he made 648 videos and 10,924 images of girls and women at a school, a church, parks, shops, beaches and playgrounds.

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On Monday, Davidson pleaded guilty through his lawyer to 189 charges, including 131 charges of making intimate visual recordings, 45 charges of sexual connection with a child, one of doing an indecent act and 12 charges of making an objectionable publication.

While his guilty pleas have saved survivors and their family members from giving evidence, Davidson waited a full 11 months as the case lumbered through the court system. His guilty pleas finally came on the morning he was due to stand trial.

Davidson’s lawyer Paul Dacre, KC, said he would not be seeking bail ahead of sentencing. Prosecutor Fiona Culliney indicated – had there been an application – the Crown would have opposed, given the serious nature of the offending and the number of victims.

Judge Kathryn Maxwell remanded Davidson in custody.

The evidence against him was strong.

Davidson covertly filmed up one girl’s skirt when he visited a vet clinic and pretended to be interested in her dog.

At other times he targeted children at a toy shop, asking their advice about toys.

Court documents show Davidson had been working as a casual relief teacher at schools in Auckland since 2010.

The documents show Davidson manipulated girls, sometimes with ice cream and lollies, to get them to walk near his phone.

Davidson also targeted women who worked in retail shops, including clothing and jewellery shops.

He played the generous older gentleman, saying he was buying jewellery for family. He groomed the women by learning their first names and would ask to see the jewellery on the bottom shelf.

When the shop assistants turned to bend over and fetch the items, Davidson would film them.

Davidson sometimes put his phone on the ground, leaving it there for girls and women to walk over while it was recording. At other times he held it, pointing it towards intimate areas.

The offending spanned years and included the sexual abuse of children.

Davidson’s grotesque offending included gathering sanitary products from women’s public toilets and putting them in his mouth. He took 18,000 images of the used items.

He was only stopped when a father noticed Davidson covertly filming his daughter at a Farmers department store in Newmarket.

Davidson’s perversion and self-described “obsession” meant he recorded his own crimes, essentially creating a watertight case for the police.

When police arrested him following the incident at Farmers, he admitted he had been filming up the skirts of girls and women. He later revealed his “obsession” with used sanitary pads.

Davidson initially sought name suppression but Judge Kathryn Maxwell declined to keep his name secret, following a hearing at the Auckland District Court in October.

A lawyer acting on behalf of connected parties indicated he would be filing an appeal in the High Court, however, the appeal was abandoned.

According to the Teacher’s Register, Davidson has voluntarily agreed not to teach.

He is due to be sentenced in September.