Warning: Contains discussion of non-consensual recording of women and children that some readers may find upsetting.
It seems like two-way mirrors are a staple part of crime TV shows, where police officers watch through the glass as the suspect crumbles on the other side.
Beyond that, they're typically not something people come across in every day life, which is why traveler Evi was convinced she was just being paranoid when she got a strange feeling in the home she was staying at in New Zealand, in August 2019.
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Arriving at the home
Evi, from Hungary, opened up about her story in the What Was That Like podcast, explaining she visited the country after getting a work holiday visa and used a volunteer website to help find work in exchange for food and accommodation.
She was in the midst of a three-month job on New Zealand's south island when she got a message from a man on the website named Tom, who had a number of good reviews from other users.
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The reviews reassured Evi and she agreed to work for Tom's family at their home in Wellington, where she was quickly introduced to Tom's wife and six-year-old daughter, and given a tour of the home.
She recalled: "He showed me where my bedroom is going to be and he showed me the bathroom I can use. He was very proud because he told me... nine years ago, he [had] redone the bathroom."
A strange feeling
During the tour, Evi noticed a door in the middle of her bedroom and the bathroom, but she wasn't shown inside. She also noticed the unusual setup in the bathroom, which had one mirror over the sink, and a second mirror to the side which faced directly towards the shower.
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That evening, Evi turned on the shower and began brushing her teeth while she waited for the water to warm up.
"When I was brushing my teeth, I heard weird noises," she recalled. "It was a little bit like animals moving inside the wall or something like that. I didn’t know what the sound was but it was strange."
Evi attempted to get a closer look at the mirror to the side of the sink, but she couldn't see anything and the noise soon stopped.
However, she became more unnerved when she actually got into the shower, when she felt like 'someone was watching'.
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The horrific discovery
After she left the bathroom and went to her bedroom, Evi noticed footsteps moving along the corridor, but she was hesitant to think the worst.
"I actually didn’t believe someone was watching me... I watched too many movies – like, these things happen in movies," she said.
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Still, Evi decided to try and investigate further the next day, when Tom and his wife were at work.
She entered the room between the bathroom and bedroom and discovered she was in the garage, where she noticed a pinboard and a whiteboard on the wall which backed onto the bathroom.
Evi approached the two boards and found she was able to slide them to the side, revealing an envelope behind them.
"I bent down the envelope and I could see straight into the bathroom," she said.
Terrified that Tom would have somehow been notified that Evi had entered the garage, she quickly began snapping photos of evidence of what she'd found.
A deeper investigation
She called the police, who arrived at the scene and found that not only had Tom - a teacher - been watching through the mirror, but he'd also placed a camera behind the glass to record videos.
Horrified at the discovery, Evi set about messaging all of the people who had left reviews on Tom's profile to inform them of what she'd found. She also notified the website, who swiftly removed Tom's profile.
As the investigation got underway, it was revealed Tom had recorded 31 hours of footage over almost 400 videos, as well as taking pictures.
His victims included volunteer workers like Evi, underage exchange students, and even family members who had visited the home in the years before Evi found the mirror.
"There were nearly a hundred women in these videos," Evi said.
The arrest
Tom was arrested and charged with 53 counts of making intimate recordings, though New Zealand statutory limitations prevented prosecutors from filing charges for all of the crimes.
Tom eventually pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison. He was released in June 2021, but has since been listed on the Child Protection Offender Register.
As for Evi, she struggled with paranoia in the wake of the incident ,and found herself covering mirrors and windows when she was having a shower, but she commended the support she received from authorities and says she is now 'fine'.
She also made clear that she does not blame the volunteer website for what happened, and even continued to use it after Tom's arrest.
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org
If you want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
Topics: Crime, New Zealand, Travel
Emily Brown