A student was asked to stay back after class to fill out a survey when she noticed a phone had been strategically placed under a workbench . Photo / 123rf
A student was asked to stay back after class to fill out a survey when she noticed a phone had been strategically placed under a workbench . Photo / 123rf
A “brazen” and “predatory” Sydney high school teacher caught filming up the skirts of female students will learn his fate later this year.
Eric Wong, 28, on Wednesday appeared at Hornsby Local Court where he was scheduled to be sentenced.
The Cammeraygal High School science teacher has been suspended from his position and has pleaded guilty to two counts of filming a person’s private parts without consent.
According to a police fact sheet tendered to the court, officers uncovered hundreds of video and image files on his personal computers when they searched his home after his offending was accidentally uncovered by a female student.
All of Wong’s victims were female students who were filmed while wearing their school uniforms.
In a fact sheet tendered to the court, police described his behaviour as “brazen, predatory and opportunist” and said Wong had preyed on female students, breaching his authority and trust.
He was discovered in December last year when he asked a student to stay behind in class.
The senior campus of Cammeraygal High School in Crows Nest, Sydney. Photo / Google Streetview
When Wong and his victim were alone in the classroom, he asked her to complete a survey on his laptop at a workbench.
When she took a step backwards, she bumped a smartboard and noticed a mobile phone that had been intentionally placed on the ground leaning upwards.
“The victim formed the opinion that the camera on the mobile phone was purposefully placed in an upwards position and was filming her whilst standing at the teacher bench,” the police fact sheet states.
She immediately told a friend about the incident.
Two days later the girl told her parents who informed school authorities, and it was discovered that neither Cammeraygal High School nor the NSW Department of Education had authorised any student survey.
Wong was arrested at his home and police seized his laptop and desktop computer.
Police found 90 video recordings that depicted Wong walking up to female students and discretely positioning his mobile phone to film their buttocks and groin.
“The accused also discretely positions his mobile phone to film the female student’s breasts and stomach area underneath their school blouse which is worn loose,” the police fact sheet said.
According to the court documents, Wong could be seen in some videos glancing at his mobile phone as he talks to the students and repositioning the camera to make sure he is capturing the student’s body.
On a desktop computer, a police forensic examination found 300 photos of female students, shot from under their blouses, showing their buttocks, groin and breast areas.
Wong’s barrister Peter Givorshner successfully applied for an adjournment on Wednesday.
