Man allegedly caught filming at Melbourne pool charged over child abuse material

A man has been charged with producing child abuse material and an intimate image after he was allegedly caught filming through a gap in a family changing room cubicle at a popular pool in Melbourne’s northwest.

Police say the 62-year-old, who was a member of the Brimbank Aquatic and Wellness Centre in Keilor Downs, filmed several people in the change rooms at about 11am on Sunday.

He was caught out when another man, who was at the centre with his wife and two young children, noticed a phone under a gap in the wall that was angled to record him getting undressed.

The man confronted the accused in the next cubicle, who then quickly deleted the content and threw the phone in a nearby nappy bin. A pool lifeguard retrieved it and police were called, with the footage recovered from the phone’s ‘recently deleted’ folder.

Police charged the man from Caroline Springs after reviewing the phone’s content. He will face court in Sunshine on March 23, 2027, on charges of producing child abuse material and producing an intimate image.

Police are currently reviewing the evidence and identifying other affected families.

Brimbank Council is urging anyone who was in the centre at the same time as the accused to contact Crime Stoppers with their concerns.

“Our thoughts are with the individual and family directly affected, and we acknowledge the distress this incident may have caused others in our community,” the council said in a statement on Sunday night. “We will continue to cooperate fully with Victoria Police and support those affected.”

The council terminated the accused’s membership, banning him from their facilities.

It is also investigating whether it will fill in the gaps or alter the design of its change rooms following the incident.

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Alexander Darling is a breaking news reporter at The Age. He has previously worked at the ABC, as well as Horsham’s Wimmera Mail-Times and Triple M radio stations in NSW.Connect via email.