Sky News Australia published November 28, 2024: Queensland paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith sentenced to life in prison.
Former childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith has been handed a life sentence after he pleaded guilty to raping and abusing dozens of young children.
If you or anyone you know needs help:
Domestic Violence Helpline: 1800RESPECT
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800
The Guardian, UK
written by Ben Smee
Friday November 29, 2024
In 2021, the serial paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith wrote a letter to parents of children at a Brisbane childcare centre, where he was employed as the director, addressing claims on social media the centre was “involved in a pedophile ring”.
“We want to reassure families that the wellbeing and safety of you and your family are of paramount importance,” wrote Griffith, who had set up a tripod camera inside the centre so he could film his sexual abuse of young girls from two different angles.
“We take child protection extremely seriously.”
On Friday, Griffith was sentenced to life in prison for 307 sexual offences against 73 victims, mostly young girls aged between three and five. Most of the offending occurred while he was employed at childcare centres in Queensland between 2003 and 2022.
Some victims and their families told the Queensland district court that they trusted and grew close to Griffith; one mother said she had “invited him into our home, into our life, and into our family”. Others are now questioning how, as Griffith’s abuse “escalated”, warning signs were missed.
In 2021, Griffith was the director of a childcare centre and notified authorities about an allegation that a female colleague had inappropriately touched a young girl. Police investigated but took no action.
About six months later, police interviewed Griffith in relation to another disclosure by a young girl. He denied the allegations at the time and was not charged.
In early 2022, Griffith moved to work at a different centre. There, a three-year-old girl made disclosures that were investigated by police, who found they “did not meet the necessary threshold for a criminal investigation”. Griffith had his shifts cancelled, but he was not charged.
The Australian federal police eventually learned all three girls had been abused by Griffith. He had recorded himself sexually assaulting or raping them – and 70 others – over a period of almost 20 years.
Dark web user ‘Zimble’
Since 2013, authorities had been searching for a man named “Zimble”, a dark web user who had uploaded child exploitation material to a now defunct paedophile community. The server required users to upload content in order to gain access to other material.
Zimble was briefly active in the community. He posted several videos and made comments advising others how to offend against young girls. He said that he acted in a way that sought “a balance between minimising risks and seizing opportunities”.
Authorities spent almost eight years searching the globe for Zimble until a breakthrough in 2022 led them to Griffith. They identified in one of his posts a type of blanket that had been sold to childcare centres in Queensland. They matched videos to locations and searched staff lists. That led them to his Gold Coast home in August 2022 and the discovery of a trove of videos documenting his abuse.
The files on Griffith’s computer included class photographs and enrolment details of children he had offended against. In some cases he had spliced videos together. Files were named by the type of sexual activity depicted.
A psychiatrist told the court Griffith had a “paedophilic disorder” and that he lacked empathy to the victims.
Summarising the psychiatric report, the district court judge Paul Smith said Griffith “never tried to stop the offending because he did not have the courage to do so”.
He said Griffith’s offending “was chronic and escalated over time”.
‘Ignored the signs’
The court heard from more than a dozen people, including young women who were abused as girls and the parents of more recent victims. Some have chosen never to tell their children they were abused.
Some spoke about their anger at church organisations and childcare providers for not preventing the abuse.
Outside the court on Friday, the father of a victim addressed reporters on behalf of victims and said the verdict marked “the end of a long journey” that begin in 2022, when families were first notified about the abuse by the Australian federal police.
“There are businesses, staff and regulators who ignored the signs, who didn’t follow through on reports, and failed to supervise our children,” the man said.
“We hope that the Department of Education investigates these centres and holds those responsible accountable for their negligence. The community deserves to know that these people will never work with children again.”
Smith said Griffith was “depraved and has a high risk of reoffending”. He tendered a “letter of apology” to victims and sat silent and emotionless through most of the hearing, as family members of victims wept in the gallery behind.
Griffith will be 71 when he is eligible for release from the high-security Wolston prison.
A Current Affair published September 12, 2024: How Australia's worst child sex offender was able to offend inside childcare centres for almost two decades is now coming under intense scrutiny.
ABC News, Australia local
written by Eden Gillespie
Thursday November 28, 2024
Warning: This story contains details of child sexual abuse.
One of Australia's most notorious paedophiles has been sentenced to life in prison after confessing to raping and abusing scores of children in daycare centres in Australia and overseas.
Former childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith pleaded guilty in September to more than 300 charges against 69 children in early learning centres in Brisbane and Italy over almost two decades.
Griffith will have a non-parole period of 27 years, with Judge Paul Smith describing his offending as "depraved". He won't be eligible to apply until 2049.
He appeared emotionless as he fronted the Brisbane District Court on Friday for the second day of sentencing.
Judge Smith found "significant harm" had been caused by Griffith, "and significant harm will continue to be caused".
He said Griffith's "risk of re-offending would be high" if he was released into the community.
"This was very serious, offending in terms of length and scale. The victims were very vulnerable, and there was a significant breach of trust," Judge Smith said.
Judge Smith said the case warranted the maximum penalty due to the length of the offences, the number of victims, their age and vulnerability, the planning involved, and the fact that he uploaded the abuse online.
Several people screamed at Griffith in the courtroom as his sentencing wrapped up.
More than 300 charges against 69 children
Griffith was initially charged with more than 1,000 offences by the AFP in 2022 after they found thousands of photographs and videos related to his abuse on the dark web.
Hundreds of charges were later dropped. The 307 offences against 69 children occurred between 2003 and 2022.
They include 190 counts of indecent treatment, 28 counts of rape, 67 counts of making child exploitation material, four counts of producing child abuse material outside of Australia, and 15 counts of repeated sexual conduct with a child.
Most of the victims were aged between two and five years old, but one could have been as young as one.
Griffith's sentencing began on Thursday, with victims sharing harrowing statements about how his abuse had impacted them.
The court heard he had offended against his victims while they were awake and asleep. When they were awake, he often gave them an iPad to distract them.
Some of the abuse lasted up to 30 minutes and occurred when other children were nearby.
Griffith shared abuse videos online
Much of the detail of Griffith's offending is too disturbing to publish.
The court heard he filmed much of the abuse and would regularly go back and review the footage he made for his own sexual gratification.
He would also upload the abuse to a child exploitation site on the dark web and left comments advising other people how they could abuse children.
Griffith would rename and categorise videos of the abuse and make montages, splicing videos or images together.
The court was told he mocked one victim in a high-pitched voice after she told him to let her go.
During sentencing submissions on Thursday, the court heard Griffith was diagnosed with a paedophilic disorder and was assessed as having "a high level of sexual deviance".
"It is noted that, despite presenting as empathetic towards the victims, during the assessment the psychiatrist concluded that he lacked empathy," Prosecutor Todd Fuller KC told the court.
Griffith's defence asked the judge for a sentence of between 25 to 30 years, with a non-parole period of 15 years.
Judge Smith said defence conceded "the offences are abhorrent", but submitted they were not in the worst category of cases for each charge.
While delivering the sentence, Judge Smith said "denunciation, punishment, deterrence, far outweigh the issue of rehabilitation".
'Distrust in the system'
Families of the victims gave emotional statements outside the court.
One father's voice shook as he described the "false sense of security" parents now have when taking their children to the childcare centres where the abuse occurred.
"Kids are having naps on the same cots that children were raped on," he said.
Another mother said she was relieved Griffith would spend life in jail.
"I remember just shaking [in court]. I'm just really relieved," she said.
"There were some swear words [in the court] at the end."
She said she felt a "sense of betrayal" by the daycare centre she sent her child to and had developed "a distrust in the system".
"The anger I have at the childcare centre and the anger I have at [Griffith] are intertwined," she said.
The assistant commissioner of the AFP, who released video of his arrest on Friday afternoon, said they recognised it was "a deeply traumatic day for so many people whose lives have been permanently affected by the crimes of one man".
"As always, our thoughts are with the families and victims and we will continue to offer support to each and every one of them," Justine Gough said.
"The bravery of the victims and their families has humbled our investigators and we know any jail sentence will not be enough for those whose trust was breached in such an horrific manner."
No comments:
Post a Comment