A former childcare worker in Australia pleaded guilty on Monday to over 300 counts of rape, sexual abuse, and exploitation of hundreds of girls in his care.
The accusations against Ashley Paul Griffith, 46, were so lengthy that it took Judge Anthony Rafter more than two hours to read them in a packed Brisbane courtroom on Monday, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Griffith perpetrated the assaults at child care centers in Australia and Italy from 2003 to 2022, according to police, who accused him of being one of Australia’s worst pedophiles when the allegations against him were made public last year.
Griffith worked in several childcare facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, and Pisa, Italy.
He was initially detained in 2022 for creating child exploitation materials. A year later, ABC reported that he had been charged with 1,623 charges against 91 children.
Several of these charges were dropped. The 307 allegations filed on Monday involved approximately 60 children, the majority of whom were under the age of 12.
The convictions include 190 counts of unlawful and indecent behavior with a child under the age of 12, 28 counts of rape, 67 counts of making child exploitation material, four instances of producing child exploitation material, and 15 counts of repeated sexual activity with a minor, among other offenses.
According to ABC, Griffith exhibited little emotion when the accusations were read out on Monday.
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The parents of one of the victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told reporters outside the court that they were relieved Griffith pleaded guilty rather than “having him see the pictures of all of these children again [to make a defense]”, the mother added.
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“We see people going in [to the child care center now] and I [think] this happened to my child in that room,” she said. “It’s a room of horrors.”
Griffith remains in detention, and his sentencing will take place at a later date. Rafter anticipates it to take more than two days to read victim impact statements.