The parents of one of dozens of girls raped by a nursery worker say the system is broken and they cannot understand how the man got away with it after committing prolific offences for years in a “room full of horrors”.
Ashley Paul Griffith, 46, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Monday to more than 300 child sex offences, including 28 counts of rape, as well as continuous sexual abuse and producing child exploitation material.
Griffith committed the crimes at daycare centres in several Brisbane suburbs over a period 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 giving his pleas on each individual charge.
“We certainly feel there is something broken in the system,” the victim’s father said.
“It’s hard to believe that someone like that could have gotten away with it for so long. He’s doing it as efficiently as he could.”
The victim’s mother said she wanted to remain outside the daycare where her daughter was attacked to warn other parents.
“It happened to my son in that room. It’s a room full of horrors,” she said.
Ashley Paul Griffith, 46, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Monday to more than 300 child sex offences, including 28 counts of rape, as well as continuous sexual abuse and making child exploitation material.
The mother said her complaint about Griffith’s behavior in 2018 went unheeded and accused the center of being run “like a business, not a place that cares for children.”
Griffith appeared in court Monday to be arraigned and pleaded “guilty” as each charge was read to Judge Anthony Rafter and a courtroom packed with victims’ relatives and police detectives.
He admitted committing offences against several children while working at childcare centres in Brisbane between January 2003 and August 2022.
Dressed in a striped polo shirt and jeans, the Gold Coast resident stood for two hours as hundreds of charges were read out.
Griffith was arrested in August 2022 by the Australian Federal Police and originally charged with more than 1,000 offences against 91 girls, but hundreds of charges were later dropped.
He pleaded guilty to 190 counts of indecent treatment of children under 12 while a carer, 67 counts of taking indecent photographs and videos of children and 15 counts of repeated sexual abuse of a child.
Griffith also admitted seven charges of possessing child exploitation material and distributing such material outside Australia to locations in Italy.
Crown prosecutor Stephanie Gallagher told Judge Rafter that a pre-sentence report and psychiatric assessment would be ready in November.
“It would be appropriate to set (the length of the sentence) at two days… There are a large number of victims in this case and family members who I suspect will be interested in providing impact statements,” Gallagher said.
Judge Rafter said he would take that into account because “victim impact material is sometimes asked to be read aloud.”
The parents of one of the victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, spoke outside court after Griffith spent more than two hours giving his pleas on each individual charge.
Defence lawyer Sarah Cartledge argued that sentencing should be delayed for at least a month after the reports were submitted.
“The defense has taken active steps to ensure that this matter is expedited… postponing that sentence for another month is not a significant delay,” he said.
Judge Rafter adjourned the matter until September 9 to discuss a sentencing date.
Griffith did not apply for bail and was returned to prison.
Outside court, the parents of one of the victims welcomed the guilty plea, saying it would allow them to move on to the next step.
The father was relieved that the guilty pleas avoided a trial as “it would have been terrible if he hadn’t pleaded guilty.”
The mother said the evidence against Griffith was overwhelming and she was grateful not to have the added trauma of a trial.
“The idea that I might be able to see the pictures of all those children again (at the trial) would be heartbreaking.”
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Service for Support and Reparation in Cases of Sexual Abuse 1800 211 028
Lifeline 13 11 14
Children’s Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5-25)
(tags to translate)dailymail