A swimming coach set up cameras in an office in a pool in Dublin and recorded young girls over a 12-month period as they were changing into specialist swimsuits, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard.
Matthew Coward, from Shantalla Drive in Santry in Dublin, pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of children and producing child abuse images and videos between September 2021 and September 2022.
The 32-year-old was remanded on bail for sentencing later this month.
Coward was a coach for Swim Ireland, and had trained teenage girls at a pool in Dublin.
Sergeant Shane Behan told the court that after one of the victim's fathers had dropped her off at the pool, Coward gave her a pair of skins, a specialist swimsuit, which can take 20 minutes to put on.
The children normally put them on at home.
Coward asked her to go into his poolside office and told her "you have to get completely naked to put it on".
She found this strange and subsequently discovered an iPad propped up beside a camera and became very upset.
The child could not concentrate on her swimming and later told her father, who contacted Kate Hills, Swim Ireland’s National Children’s Officer. Ms Hills in turn contacted Tusla and gardaí.
Ms Hill also then met the coach and when he was told about the allegations, he started to shake, appeared incredulous, and asked: "What have I done? Who have I abused?"
Coward recording children changing
The court heard that Coward secretly recorded three children changing in his office.
The videos also show him setting up two recording devices, including a mobile phone that was placed on the ground to record up.
Coward also arranged chairs to cordon off an area in the office.
He can be heard speaking to the children before and after they went into the office, asking them if they were happy with the swimsuits and talking about chatting to their parents about buying a new swimsuit.
Detectives from Blanchardstown put Coward under observation and secured search warrants.
Coward was stopped on his way home after breaking a red light and a number of phones and an iPad were handed over to gardaí. He was found unfit to drive.
In total, the court heard that nearly 80 videos were found on two phones, which included illegal abusive videos and screenshots of children that focused on private parts.
There were also videos at various locations in the pool of children stretching on the side and focusing in on clothed parts of their bodies.
Gardaí also discovered a number of internet searches synonymous with searching for teenage pornography.
Victim impact statements were read out in court on behalf of two of the children.
Girl 'terrified' after discovering camera
The girl who discovered the camera said her life changed from that moment.
"Matt would never do that," she said. "I checked, I turned over the phone. I was scared, terrified, what will he do?"
She said she was overcome with fear and ran away when new coaches were assigned and wanted to show the swimmers a video in the office.
The girl said she feels anxiety every time there is a news story and that if Coward had pleaded guilty at the time she would have felt better. She said she had been forced to think about a trial.
"I thought he believed in me," she said, "I trusted him and his coaching methods. I’m now more cautious, checking for danger.
"The main thing I have lost is trust, it’s hard to trust new coaches, teachers.
"I avoid one-on-one conversations. It’s hard to make new friends. It’s hard to come to terms with what happened, hard to understand he knew exactly what he was doing."
Girl finds it hard to trust men
Another child described how she used to love swimming, but that training is now a burden.
Coward, she said, was like a father figure, but she is now much less open and happy, and finds it difficult to trust people, men in particular, including the new coach who has done nothing wrong.
She also spoke about how her family and parents blame themselves and how her mother and father are still suffering.
Coward’s defence counsel James Dwyer said that Coward has regret, remorse and insight into his offending.
He has since worked in Starbucks and as a night manager to provide for his family.
Mr Dwyer said that Coward has low self-esteem, suicide ideation, anxiety and depression.
He asked the judge to take into account a number of factors, including the collateral consequences of his offending, which has ended his career and the opprobrium visited on the family by significant publicity.
He handed in letters from Coward, his wife and her mother, as well as a number of psychological reports
Judge Orla Crowe will sentence him on Tuesday 21 November.
