Prison for man who spied on young girls in Letterkenny leisure centre

A Leterkenny man who used mirrors as part of a system divided to spy on girls as young as five in a leisure centre has been jailed.

Louie Nugent was caught masturbating as he recorded the girls at the Aura Leisure Centre in Letterkenny.

Nugent, a 67-year-old man from Killyclug in Letterkenny, was apprehended by a man whose daughters were filmed by Nugent while they changed in a cubicle after a swimming lesson.

Nugent pleaded guilty to engaging in an act of masturbation in a public place, the Aura Leisure Centre, on November 21, 2017 and he also pleaded guilty to three counts of intentionally engaging in offensive behaviour of a sexual nature at Aura Leisure Centre on November 15, 2017 and November 21, 2017

He also pleaded guilty to intentionally engaging in offensive behaviour of a sexual nature on November 22, 2017 on an occasion other than that referred to at the Aura Leisure Centre.

“The offences involved a very gross invasion of the privacy of young girls in the leisure centre,” Judge John Aylmer said.

“There was the use of a mobile phone to observe or record these girls in a state of undress. He had set up a system where he secreted mirrors in various locations behind pieces of furniture to facilitate this type of offending.”

Judge Aylmer said the maximum sentence available was two years imprisonment and, viewing the offence as being in the ‘upper end of the scale’, he said his starting point for sentencing was a prison term of 20 months.

Judge John Aylmer

In mitigation, Judge Aylmer said Nugent had pleaded guilty, sparing his victims the ordeal of having to give evidence. Nugent, who has no previous convictions, has been ‘completely ostracised and completely isolated’ from his family, Judge Aylmer said.

The sentence was reduced to one of 15 months on each count and Nugent was given credit for all time spent in custody on these charges. Nugent was extradited and entered custody on October 7, 2021.

Detective Garda Stephen Moyles said that two young sisters, who were aged 14 and 12 at the time, were in a changing cubicle on November 15, 2017 when the younger girl noticed a mobile phone appear beneath the partition with the adjacent cubicle.

The girl believed that she and her sister were being recorded and saw a man laying on the floor in the next cubicle. The other girl, who climbed onto the seat, told how a man was ‘hunched over and flicking through his phone’.

The following week, they refused to go swimming and told their parents what had happened. The girls’ father went to the Aura Leisure Centre with his daughters and they spotted Nugent in a communal area.

The man, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of any of the victims in the case, decided to monitor Nugent.

He saw Nugent remove someone else’s clothing from a cubicle next to one a mother and a young girl were using. The man witnessed Nugent laying sideways on the floor with a mobile phone in one hand and a circular mirror in the other. The young girl was estimated to be six or seven years of age at the time.

Nugent was observed concealing the phone and mirror with a towel. Nugent was seen placing two mirrors and two phones in a locker and returning to the pool area.

The man saw Nugent smile at another young girl, estimated to be six or seven years of age. The young girl went to a shower cubicle with the door opened.

Detective Garda Moyles said the witness observed Nugent engage in ‘an act clearly described as masturbation’.

Nugent was later witnessed removing someone else’s clothing from another cubicle next to where a girl, estimated to be five or six years old, was showering. The witness told Gardaí that Nugent was naked, lying on the floor masturbating and using his phone to film or record the young girl.

The witness saw Nugent remove a mirror which was concealed behind the toilet bowl. Staff and Gardaí were alerted and CCTV footage was later garnered, showing Nugent’s suspicion movements. When confronted by the girls’ father, Nugent whispered: ‘You’ll never fucking catch me’.

Detective Garda Moyles said that a subsequent search of the premised found mirrors ‘on various locations’ in the building.

Barrister for Nugent, Mr Sean McGee BL, said his client’s ‘very long-standing’ marriage had come to an end when these matters broke. Mr McGee said Nugent has had ‘limited’ contact with some of his eight children and none at all since entering custody. The only place where he can now reside, Mr McGee said, was with his mother in Glasgow.

“He has been completely isolated since,” Mr McGee said. “He is not in a position to offer an explanation other than this was something that he fell into. He is at a loss to offer an explanation. He simply doesn’t understand why he fell into this type of behaviour.”