Former Australian childcare worker pleads guilty to 307 counts of child sex abuse

A former childcare worker in Australia pleaded guilty on Monday to more than 300 charges of rape, sexual abuse and exploitation of dozens of girls for which he was responsible.

The charges against 46-year-old Ashley Paul Griffith were so extensive that it took Judge Anthony Rafter more than two hours to read them out to a packed Brisbane courtroom on Monday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

According to police, who accused him of being one of Australia’s worst paedophiles when charges against him were made public last year, Griffith committed the offences at daycare centres where he worked in Australia and Italy between 2003 and 2022.

Griffith worked at several daycare centres in Brisbane, Sydney and Pisa, Italy.

He was first arrested in 2022 for making child exploitation material. A year later, he was charged with 1,623 crimes against 91 children, ABC reported.

Many of those charges were dropped. Monday’s 307 charges involved about 60 children, many under the age of 12.

The convictions include 190 counts of unlawful and indecent contact with a child under 12 in his care, 28 counts of rape, 67 counts of making child exploitation material, four counts of producing child exploitation material, 15 counts of repeated sexual acts with a child and more.

Griffith showed little emotion Monday as the charges were read out, ABC reported.

The parents of one of the victims – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – told reporters outside the court they were glad Griffith pleaded guilty rather than “show him the pictures of all these children again (to defend himself),” the mother said.

“We see people going in (to the daycare now) and I (think) this is what happened to my child in that room,” the child’s mother said. “It’s a room full of horrors.”

Griffith will remain in custody and sentencing will be determined later. Rafter expects it will take more than two days to allow time to read victim impact statements.