Former Australian child care worker pleads guilty to 307 counts of child sexual abuse

A former child care worker in Australia pleaded guilty on Monday to more than 300 counts of rape, sexual abuse and exploitation of dozens of girls in his care.

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

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

Griffith worked in several childcare centers in Brisbane, Sydney and Pisa, Italy.

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

Many of those charges have been dropped. Monday's 307 charges involved about 60 children, many of them under the age of 12.

The convictions include 190 cases of illicit and indecent contact with a child under the age of 12 entrusted to his care, 28 cases of rape, 67 cases of production of material for the exploitation of children, four cases of production of material for the exploitation of children, 15 cases of repeated sexual contact with a child and others.

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

The parents of one of the victims – whose identities cannot be disclosed for legal reasons – told reporters outside court they were glad Griffith pleaded guilty rather than “showing him the pictures of all those children again.” [in order to make a defense]”, said the mother.

“We see people going in [to the child care center now] and I [think] “This is what happened to my child in this room,” said the child's mother. “It is a room of horror.”

Griffith remains in custody and sentencing will be announced at a later date. Rafter expects it will take more than two days to read the victims' statements.