John William Goodwin pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court on Friday to more than 20 charges of making observations or recordings in breach of privacy and one count of possessing child exploitation material.

In 2014 he admitted 125 counts of recording in breach of privacy between December 2005 and February 2010, and pleaded guilty to charges including burglary, sexual assault, indecent treatment of a child and making child exploitation material.

Most recordings were taken while peering through windows and gaps in blinds and curtains of the 38 houses he visited but in some cases he broke in, according to court documents.

He sexually assaulted some women and videoed himself masturbating in bedrooms while women were sleeping.

A total of 59 complainants were identified, while five remained unknown.

Goodwin came to the attention of police when he posted a folder of images he had taken of an eight-year-old girl to a Russian website.

He spent years behind bars for those offences before being released on parole on Christmas Eve 2019.

But police found images and about 186 videos of a “Peeping Tom nature” on his phone in July 2021, prosecutor Dejana Kovac said on Friday.

They showed 12 women aged between 15 and 49, some fully or partially naked, in their homes in the south Brisbane suburbs of Carina – where Goodwin lived – and Camp Hill.

The video footage was taken through windows at night in February and March 2021.

Some days he went to more than one house, making recordings or just observing people in breach of their privacy.

Goodwin visited the house where the 15-year-old girl lived six times, while on two days in February he took more than 50 videos of five women, including one who was heavily pregnant, showering and dressing.

The women felt significantly violated by Goodwin’s actions, Kovac told the court.

“His offending in my submissions was premeditated, predatory and struck at the complainants’ privacy and security in their own homes or homes of others they trusted.”

Goodwin had been subject to parole for a brief time after his previous jail sentence, his barrister Sarah Cartledge told the court.

He could not get a job due to his previous conviction, lived in a share house and had no support once his parole order ended.

“There was … a lack of anything to keep him occupied essentially … (and) he struggled to return to community life which is a contributing factor to returning to this type of offending unfortunately,” Cartledge said.

Goodwin witnessed acts of violence committed on family members during a traumatic and abusive childhood, court documents relating to his earlier convictions state.

“The sentencing judge noted … most offending occurred during periods of unemployment, when the respondent became addicted to viewing internet pornography and collecting it.”

Judge Deborah Richards adjourned the sentence to July 7, ordering a pre-sentence report that includes a psychiatric assessment be completed within 28 days.

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