The parents of one of dozens of young girls raped by a childcare worker say the system is broken and they can’t fathom how he got away with prolific offending over years in a ‘room full of horrors’.
Ashley Paul Griffith, 46, on Monday pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court to more than 300 child sex offences including 28 charges of rape, as well as ongoing sexual abuse and making child exploitation material.
Griffith committed the crimes at childcare centres in multiple Brisbane suburbs over a span of more than 19 years.
The parents of one of the victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, spoke outside court after Griffith spent more than two hours entering his pleas to each individual charge.
‘We certainly feel there’s something broken in the system,’ the victim’s father said.
‘How someone like that could get away with that for so long, it’s hard to believe it’s being run as effectively as it could be’.
The victim’s mother said she wanted to stand outside the childcare centre where her daughter was attacked in order to warn other parents
‘It happened to my child in that room. It’s a room full of horrors,’ she said.
The mother said her complaint about Griffith’s behaviour in 2018 was not acted upon and she accused the centre of being run ‘as a business, not as a place that was looking after children’.
Griffith faced court on Monday for arraignment and replied ‘guilty’ when each charge was read to Judge Anthony Rafter and a courtroom overflowing with victims’ families and police detectives.
He admitted to offences against multiple children while working in childcare centres across Brisbane between January 2003 and August 2022.
Dressed in a striped polo shirt and jeans, the Gold Coast resident stood for two hours while hundreds of charges were read out.
Griffith was arrested in August 2022 by n Federal Police and originally charged with more than 1000 offences against 91 young girls, but hundreds of charges were later dropped.
He pleaded guilty to 190 counts of indecent treatment of children aged under 12 while a carer, 67 counts of taking indecent photos and videos of children, and 15 counts of repeated sexual abuse of a child.
Griffith also admitted to seven counts of possessing child exploitation material and distributing the material outside of to locations in Italy.
Crown prosecutor Stephanie Gallagher told Judge Rafter a pre-sentence report and psychiatric evaluation would be ready by November.
‘It would be appropriate to list (the sentencing to last) for two days … There is a large number of victims in this case and family members who I suspect will be interested in providing impact statements,’ Ms Gallagher said.
Judge Rafter said he would take that into account as ‘sometimes there is a request for victim impact material to be read out’.
Defence barrister Sarah Cartledge submitted that sentencing should be delayed at least a month after the reports were provided.
‘Defence have taken active steps to make sure this matter is expedited … pushing that sentence out another month isn’t a significant delay,’ she said.
Judge Rafter adjourned the matter to September 9 to discuss a sentencing date.
Griffith did not seek bail and was returned to custody.
Outside court, the parents of one victim welcomed the guilty plea, saying it would allow them to move on to the next step.
The father was relieved the guilty pleas avoided a trial as ‘it would have been awful if he didn’t plead (guilty)’.
The mother said the evidence against Griffith was overwhelming and she was thankful not to have the added trauma of a trial.
‘The idea of him being able to see the pictures of all these children again (at trial) would be heartbreaking.’
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)