Mother questions how childcare abuse accused was allowed to keep working
By Dan Nolan
A Brisbane mother has spoken for the first time about her concerns regarding childcare safety after an alleged incident involving her three-year-old daughter and the man now accused of being Australia’s worst-ever paedophile.
Ashley Paul Griffith has been charged with more than 1600 child sex offences against 91 children over a 15-year period but was cleared by Queensland police of two separate complaints in the 12 months leading up to his arrest.
Detectives did not even interview Griffith about the second complaint involving the three-year-old girl and did not refer either investigation to Blue Card Services, which could have led to restrictions being placed on his ability to work with children.
“How on earth, a man who is reported on two completely different incidents in different daycare centres is then free to work in another daycare centre?” said Kym*.
“I don’t understand that. That’s probably what has me the most upset.”
Gold Coast man Ashley Griffith was charged last year with more than 1600 offences, including rape.Credit: Nine
Kym spoke with Channel Nine’s A Current Affair in the hope it would lead to change in the system after an alleged incident occurred at a Brisbane childcare centre in April 2022, four months before Griffith was arrested.
Kym’s daughter told her mother at bedtime that “Ashley touched my privates”.
“My heart sank but I said ‘who is Ashley?’ and she said ‘the man teacher’ or ‘the boy teacher’,” Kym said.
She says her daughter then disclosed details about something that happened at rest time, which Channel Nine chose not to broadcast.
Kym broke into tears upon sharing the news with her partner.
“We were both shocked. I felt sick. I believed her right away – just the language and just the way she told me, I knew.”
Griffith was working on only his second day at the child’s centre, hired from a relief agency as a fill-in.
He was stood down immediately after Kym reported the alleged incident.
She also notified Queensland police, who conducted an interview with the child.
That interview was conducted without any parent or support person in the room, as per Queensland police guidelines.
“She was hesitant, of course, she’d never met these people before. It took us a while to warm her up to want to be in the room without us,” Kym said.
She said her daughter repeated her claims but became confused when she was given a teddy bear to show where he had allegedly touched her.
Police determined there was not enough evidence to continue the investigation.
“The detective did say to me afterwards, ‘I’ve been doing this for a really long time, I deal with a lot of children who have been interfered with and your daughter doesn’t seem like a child who has been interfered with’,” Kym said.
Mum ‘gutted’ that worker was cleared of complaint
The investigation was handled by the Child Protection and Investigation Unit at the Boondall police station, which had also investigated a previous complaint against Griffith about six months earlier.
That October 2021 report came from a childcare teacher who alleged she had seen Griffith kiss a young girl whilst sleeping. It had occurred at a different Brisbane childcare centre, run by the Uniting Church, which was also dismissed by police.
Police were unable to secure a search warrant for Griffith’s devices, claiming the report it received did not involve “physical contact”.
When Australian Federal Police officers arrested Griffith in August 2022, he was working at a Gold Coast childcare centre and 4000 images of child abuse material were discovered on his phone and other devices.
It was only after new Queensland laws unmasking accused sex offenders came into effect three weeks ago that Kym discovered the teacher her daughter complained about was the same man accused of being Australia’s worst paedophile.
It took several calls involving the centre’s operator, the Anglican Church, to confirm it was Griffith.
Kym said she felt “gutted” to learn Griffith had been cleared of the October 2021 police complaint and allowed to continue working in childcare.
“I was so upset. I was angry. I just felt like what happened to our daughter could have been prevented. It never should have happened.”
“How somebody can be reported for something similar to what happened to our child six months prior and then he’s back in the system.”
A Queensland police spokesperson confirmed that Griffith was not interviewed by detectives about the second complaint in April 2022 because the alleged victim “did not make disclosures of an offence to police”.
“Additionally, childcare centre staff and management informed police, the man was never left unsupervised with children and the offence could not have happened,” the spokesperson said.
Queensland police did not refer either complaint to Blue Card Services, which could have led to restrictions being placed on Griffith’s ability to work with children.
“The investigations subject to this matter did not meet the threshold under section 305 of the Working with Children [Risk Management and Screening] Act 2000 to be referred to Blue Card Services [investigative information],” the spokesperson said.
Police advised the Education Department about the 2021 investigation, with a spokesperson defending its handling of both complaints.
“The primary test for the decision to prosecute is the ‘sufficiency of evidence’ test. This test will be satisfied if there is sufficient admissible evidence to prove the charge against the defendant,” the spokesperson said.
“A previous unsubstantiated complaint cannot be used to support a prosecution.”
Kym said she had lost faith that childcare centres were fulfilling their duty to keep all children safe.
“I don’t think they’re doing that at all. I really don’t,” she said.
“How was he allowed back into the daycare system? I don’t understand how that slipped through the cracks.”
* The mother has been given a pseudonym to protect the identity of her daughter.
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