Former childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith has been sentenced to life in prison for the “depraved” sexual abuse of 73 children under his care over almost 20 years.
Griffith, 46, will not be eligible for parole until 2049.
Queensland district court judge Paul Smith imposed the maximum sentence and a special non-parole period of 27 years, after Griffith pleaded guilty to 307 sexual offences against children in his care in Brisbane and Italy between 2003 and 2022.
The offences included 28 counts of rape and 15 counts of “repeated sexual contact”. Most of the victims were girls aged between three and five at the time.
In his judgment, Smith said Griffith’s actions were “depraved and committed by a man with a high risk of offending” and that “the overall conduct is horrendous”.
“The sheer number of victims … demonstrates the need for a sentence that protects the community,” he said.
Outside the court, victims called for an investigation into childcare centres where Griffith isolated, filmed and sexually abused young girls undetected for years.
“Parents are walking their children into these centres today with a false sense of security,” the father of a victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told reporters.
“Their kids are having naps on the same cots other kids were raped on.”
Griffith watched impassively, often wringing his hands, during the sentencing hearing. On Thursday he sat solemnly while victim-survivors who were abused as young girls gave harrowing accounts about the impact of his offending.
Parents of younger victims spoke about befriending the kindergarten teacher and welcoming him into their homes. Some have chosen never to tell their children they were abused.
“Seeing our daughter’s face is a permanent reminder. A trigger,” one parent said.
A young woman told the court about suffering symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and being scared of adults as a girl. She began self-harming at age 12. These symptoms had been unexplained until the day, in 2022, her family was contacted by Australian federal police detectives who had uncovered the extent of Griffith’s offending.
“I can never know what it would have been to grow up unafraid of people,” the woman said.
“He recorded himself abusing me and put recordings of me on the dark web. His actions have profoundly impacted my life. I have missed out on a normal childhood.”
Griffith worked at a range of childcare centres in Brisbane, and others in Sydney and Pisa, Italy.
All victims have been identified and their families informed, the AFP has previously said.
The AFP believes Griffith – who had the required childcare qualifications – recorded all his alleged offending on phones and cameras at work.
After discovering Griffith had uploaded images to a dark web paedophile forum, using the pseudonym “Zimble”, detectives discovered catalogued files on his computer – including class photographs and enrolment details of children and videos of his abuse.
The court heard that a pre-sentence report and a psychiatric report had found Griffith had a “paedophilic disorder” but “no other disorders or background factors which explained the offending”.
“He was assessed as having a high level of sexual deviance and is a high risk of reoffending,” the director of public prosecutions, Todd Fuller KC, said.
Those reports found Griffith “lacked empathy to the victims”, engaged in “minimisations and cognitive distortions” and had attempted to justify his actions.
Summarising the psychiatric report, Smith said Griffith “never tried to stop the offending because he did not have the courage to do so”.
Smith also said Griffith had provided advice to others on the dark web about how to offend against children. His comments online included that he acted in a way that sought “a balance between minimising risks and seizing opportunities”.
Griffith had pleaded guilty to 15 counts of “repeated sexual contact”, 28 counts of rape, 190 counts of indecent treatment of a child in his care and 67 counts of making child exploitation material.
The charges related to 69 children at 11 separate childcare centres in Queensland and four children at a centre in Pisa, Italy.
Outside the court, victims and their families welcomed the life sentence. But they said Queensland education authorities needed to investigate the “failures” they say enabled Griffith to offend.
“We hope that the department of education thoroughly investigates these centres and holds those responsible accountable for their negligence,” one parent said.
“The community deserves to know that these people will never work with children again.”
In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. The crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In an emergency, call 000. International helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
