Letterkenny man caught using mirrors to spy on young girls in leisure centre

A man who engaged in lewd acts in a Letterkenny leisure centre used mirrors to help spy on young girls.

Louie Nugent was caught masturbating as he recorded the girls, who were estimated to be as young as five-years-old.

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. The offence is contrary to Section 45 (2) of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017.

Nugent 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 are contrary to Section 45 (3) of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017.

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 girls were ‘unsettled’, Detective Garda Moyles said. 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. 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.

Nugent subsequently left the jurisdiction and lived in Scotland before being arrested on foot of a European Arrest Warrant. Nugent has been in custody at Castlerea Prison on these charges since October 7, 2021.

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.”

Mr McGee said that Nugent wished to apologise to his victims.

Judge John Aylmer remanded Nugent in custody until next Wednesday, November 2, 2022, when he will sentence Nugent.