A former childcare worker i Australia pleaded guilty Monday to more than 300 counts of raping, sexually assaulting and exploiting dozens of girls under his care.
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 to a packed Brisbane courtroom on Monday. It was reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)..
According to police – who accused him of being one of Australia’s worst pedophiles when the allegations against him were made public last year – Griffith committed the crimes at childcare centers where he worked between 2003 and 2022 in Australia and Italy.
Griffith worked at several childcare centers in Brisbane, Sydney and Pisa, Italy.
He was first arrested in 2022 for manufacturing child exploitation material. A year later, he was charged with 1,623 crimes against 91 children, ABC reported.
Many of these charges were dropped. The 307 charges on Monday involved about 60 children, many of whom were under the age of 12.
The convictions include 190 charges of unlawful and indecent handling of a child under 12 in his care, 28 counts of rape, 67 counts of producing child exploitation material, four counts of producing child exploitation material, 15 counts of repeated sexual behavior with a child and more.
Griffith showed little emotion as the charges were read Monday, ABC reported.
The parents of one of the victims – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – told reporters outside court that they were glad Griffith pleaded guilty rather than “let him see the pictures of all these kids again [in order to make a defense]”, said the mother.
“We see people walking in [to the child care center now] and me [think] this happened to my child in that room,” the child’s mother said. “It’s a horrible room.”
Griffith remains in custody and will be sentenced at a later date. Rafter expects it will take more than two days to allow time to read victim statements.