Former Narrogin mental health nurse charged with raping teen patient now accused of upskirting schoolgirls

Some of Perth’s top secondary schools have been dragged into an “upskirting” nightmare after an alleged rapist was accused of taking indecent images of multiple girls on his mobile phone. At least six leading schools wrote to parents on Tuesday to tell them their pupils could have been caught up in the alleged offending of former mental health nurse Adam Simon McGovern. The 48-year-old was already facing serious sexual assault allegations when he was arrested again on Monday, and charged with dozens more offences. Police allege that between September and December last year, Mr McGovern filmed up the skirts of teenage girls believed to be aged between 13 and 16 on trains, at train stations and near schools. He is also alleged to have performed 27 separate indecent acts in public, with incidents in suburbs across Perth, including Subiaco, Scarborough, Innaloo, Armadale, Leederville, West Leederville, Mount Hawthorn, North Perth and Kingsley. In letters sent to parents following Mr McGovern’s court appearance, principals said that students identified by police investigations will be “provided specific information relating to police operations and charges”. “To alleviate any concerns that students and their families may have, WA Police Perth Detectives Office is confident that the material is contained, and the offending has been stopped by their investigation,” the letters said. “The person allegedly responsible has been apprehended and charged and has been identified as acting alone.” Families of any students involved would also be provided “any support those families and students require”. Following this week’s rearrest, Mr McGovern now faces two serious but separate allegations of offending involving children. Between 2016 and 2018, he is accused of sexually assaulting a female patient — who was just 14 at the time — a dozen times. Police said it was while he worked for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the Wheatbelt. The court heard he also allegedly admitted to a relationship in an intercepted phone call with the alleged victim. Despite strong opposition, Mr McGovern was granted on strict conditions including surrendering his passport, reporting to police daily, and having no unsupervised contact with children. Following forensic investigation of Mr McGovern’s electronic devices, detectives laid the further “upskirting” charges earlier this week. And that led to another bid to keep him behind bars. Magistrate Brian Gluestein was told that if they resulted in convictions, the likely outcome would be immediate and lengthy terms of imprisonment. But Mr McGovern’s barrister, Anthony Elliott, said the new charges were “far less serious” than the original allegations. And he said they predated his client’s original arrest. “He’s been on bail since January. He hasn’t taken flight, he hasn’t re-offended,” Mr Elliott said, adding that his client posed “no pending risk”. The magistrate said he was “confident” Mr McGovern would have been released on bail for the upskirting offences had those charges been laid back in January, and released him on bail — on condition he not approach any schools, public sporting facilities and train stations. He is also not allowed to have any contact with children, to leave WA, or to possess a device that has the capability to send or receive encrypted messages. Mr McGovern was released on a $10,000 surety and a $10,000 personal undertaking. He is due back in court in May. He said nothing as he left court, hiding his face with a hoodie.