Digital forensic expert testifies at voyeurism trial of Halifax-area school teacher

A police digital forensic expert testified Wednesday that he was unable to find any voyeuristic images on the cellphone of a Halifax-area school teacheraccused of spying on women in a public washroom last summer.

Matthew Douglas Moriarty, 43,is charged with five counts of voyeurism. Four women have accused him of secretly recording imagesof them when they were using a washroomat the Abenaki Aquatic Club in Dartmouth, N.S., on July 18-20, 2023.

Halifax Regional Police Special Const.Rodney Smith begantestifying late Wednesday afternoon atMoriarty's trial in Dartmouth provincial court.He is the first and so far only witness qualified as an expert to give opinion evidence.

Smith testified that he was givenMoriarty's cellphone two days after the man was arrestedon July 20,2023, at the paddlingclub.

He said a warrant instructed him to extract material from the phone using a specially-designed software program and he copied the contents of the phone to examine it.

He said that examination failed touncover any videos or photographs that were voyeuristic in nature.

Case recap

Several people have testified since thetrial began Monday that they saw a cellphone on the washroom floor in the clubhouse at Abenaki. They said the phone was inside the mesh pocket of a pair of men's shorts.

One man who was following Moriarty after allegations about his behaviour surfaced said he witnessed Moriarty using his foot to nudge the shorts and camera partway into an adjoining stall.

Officials with the aquatic club said they became concerned when a young woman reportedshe had seena cellphone on the floor under the partition between the two stalls, with its camera lenspointed up toward her.

Testimony earlier in the week revealed members of the club executive discussed what to do while they debated whether to call police. When they encountered another woman who reported similar experiences in the washroom, they contacted the police non-emergency line.

Officers arrived mid-afternoon on July 20, 2023, and arrested Moriarty.A language teacher at WoodlawnHigh School in Dartmouth, he was placed on leave as soon as charges were announced.

Moriarty'strial was scheduled to wrap up at the end of the week, but lawyers have not finished questioning Smith, who will continue his testimonyFriday.

More dates will be added when court resumes on Friday.