A child care centre manager credited with attempting to expose one of ‘s worst paedophiles is now fighting to clear her own name after being accused of sharing confidential material.
Grandmother Yolanda Borucki has been portrayed as a whistleblower whose actions could have ended Ashley Paul Griffith’s offending against children almost a year before he was finally caught.
Griffith pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Monday to 307 offences including 28 of rape, 67 of making child exploitation material, and 190 of indecent treatment of a child.
He also admitted 15 counts of repeated sexual abuse of a child, and seven of possessing and distributing child exploitation material.
ns were horrified in August last year when police revealed the Gold Coast child care worker, who could not then be named, had been charged with 1,623 offences against 91 girls.
Griffith’s crimes, all of which he recorded, were committed over 15 years between 2007 and 2022 while working at 10 child care centres in Brisbane, one in Sydney and one in Italy.
Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said at a press conference: ‘The AFP had no information from parents or any other person prior to this man being arrested and charged’.
Three days later, Ms Borucki, 59, appeared on A Current Affair claiming she had been involved in reporting Griffith to police in October 2021 after a colleague saw him kissing a sleeping girl at a Brisbane child care centre.
Griffith was stood down while police investigated the allegations, which could not be substantiated, and he went back to working with children.
The local detectives who investigated the complaint about Griffith had not searched his home or examined his electronic devices.
Griffith was arrested in August 2022, by which time he had reportedly abused at least four more girls, but the extent of his offending was not publicly disclosed for another 12 months.
The October 2021 complaint was not lodged by Ms Borucki but was made by another employee of the child care centre’s operator, the Uniting Church in , Queensland.
The Queensland Police Service confirmed Ms Borucki was not the informant who tipped them off and was never a witness in its original investigation.
Ms Borucki’s appearance on A Current Affair came four days after she had been made redundant by her former employer.
Six days after Ms Borucki told her story to the Nine program, the Uniting Church reported her to police for allegedly hacking a computer to access confidential information.
Five days later, detectives from Task Force Argos, the specialist Queensland team which hunts the state’s worst paedophiles, executed a search warrant on Ms Borucki’s home.
There, they seized a number of electronic devices and subsequently charged Ms Borucki with one count of computer hacking.
‘It will be alleged the woman illegally accessed confidential documents relating to her former employment at a Brisbane child care centre, and distributed those documents to other persons,’ police said at the time.
‘These documents allegedly contained the private information of children allegedly victim to abuse, their families and a male person who allegedly committed sexual offences against those children while in his care at the relevant child care centre.’
That person was Griffith, who could not be identified until October 3 last year when a change to Queensland laws allowed accused rapists to be named.
‘It will be alleged these documents were accessed and released after he had been charged,’ police said. ‘The impacted families have been notified and are being provided ongoing support.’
Police allege Ms Borucki hacked the computer on August 3, three days after she had been made redundant, while she still had possession of a work laptop and phone.
In the year since Griffith’s crimes were made public Ms Borucki has repeatedly been portrayed as a whistleblower who had unsuccessfully tried to expose him.
A Facebook page set up by supporters is full of comments describing her as a hero who should never have been charged with the computer hacking offence.
Members of Task Force Argos, whose gruelling work has been hailed internationally since the unit was established in 1997, have been pilloried for charging her.
‘Argos is very upset about all the reporting on this,’ a police source said. ‘It’s been really tough on them. They do incredible work.
‘If they receive a complaint about computer hacking they have a duty as police officers to investigate.’
Daily Mail put a series of questions to Queensland police about what role Ms Borucki played in the October 2021 investigation into Griffith.
‘[Ms Borucki] is not recorded as either an informant or witness in the mentioned complaint made to Queensland Police Service,’ a spokesman responded.
The Uniting Church could not comment on the hacking allegation against Ms Borucki but stated it had been responsible for reporting Griffith to police.
‘In October 2021, the Uniting Church in , Queensland made a complaint to the Queensland Police Service,’ a spokeswoman said.
‘We responded promptly and cooperated fully with the investigation.
‘We are committed to the safety and wellbeing of children and vulnerable people, and we share the horror of our community if any child is harmed.
‘We can’t comment further on the case again Ms Borucki as it is still before the court.’
Ms Borucki launched an unfair dismissal action against the Uniting Church in the Federal Court’s Fair Work division but discontinued the case in June.
Griffith became an AFP target in August 2022 when officers traced a bedspread which featured in images and videos posted on the dark web to a Brisbane child care centre where he had worked.
Investigators seized Griffith’s electronic devices and began reviewing almost 4,000 images and videos he had created to view and share with other paedophiles.
Ms Borucki is due to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court for a hearing on November 25.
She told Daily Mail she could not comment on the hacking charge, her role in Griffith being reported to police or anything else related to her previous employment.
‘We will see what is going to happen in November,’ Ms Borucki said.
Griffith will be back in Brisbane District Court on September 9 for discussions about setting a sentencing date.