Former Australian childcare worker charged with over 1,600 child abuse offences against 91 children

A former childcare worker in Australia has been charged with over 1,600 child abuse offences against 91 young girls at multiple early learning centers in Brisbane, Sydney, and overseas. According to the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the 45-year-old Gold Coast childcare worker, who remains unidentified, has been in police custody in Queensland since August of last year. Initially arrested and charged with producing child exploitation material, he now faces 1,623 child abuse charges, including 136 counts of rape and at least 110 counts of forced sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 10. These crimes were committed between 2007 and 2022, spanning 15 years.

All survivors were girls at the time of the abuse, and some are now over 18 years old. The man is accused of recording the offenses on phones and cameras while working in 10 different childcare centers in Brisbane from 2007 to 2013, as well as from 2018 to 2022. He also worked at an overseas center in 2013 and 2014, and a center in Sydney between 2014 and 2017. Australian federal police assistant commissioner Justine Gough described the offenses as “deeply distressing” and “unfathomable.”

Despite the distress caused by these crimes, Gough assured the public that the authorities are dedicated to protecting children. She stated, “There is not much solace I can give parents and children who have been identified under Operation Tenterfield [the police operation to find the accused and his alleged crimes], but I can tell you that we never gave up, and we never will when it comes to protecting children. This is a distressing time for families, carers, and the community broadly.”

Further investigations since the man’s arrest last year have led to the discovery of more self-produced child abuse material on his electronic devices. New South Wales state police assistant commissioner Michael Fitzgerald called this case “one of the most horrific child abuse cases” he has seen in his almost four decades of policing. The AFP is working with international authorities to identify four children featured in alleged child abuse material created overseas.

Once the accused faces the AFP’s charges in Queensland, they will seek to extradite him to Sydney and subject him to the full extent of the law in New South Wales, according to the police commissioner. The case is scheduled to be heard in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on August 21st.