By Eden Gillespie, ABC News
Ashley Paul Griffith appeared emotionless as he fronted the Brisbane District Court on Friday.
Photo: ABC News / Sharon Gordon
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 will not 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.
“People expect their children will be protected in childcare centres.”
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 1000 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.
“She told him, ‘it’s yucky, stop, it’s yucky, get off me, let me go’,” Judge Smith said.
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 there was “a distrust in the system”.
“The anger I have at the childcare centre and the anger I have at [Griffith] are intertwined,” she said.
Where to get help:
Victim Support 0800 842 846
Rape Crisis 0800 88 33 00
HELP Call 24/7 (Auckland): 09 623 1700, (Wellington): 04 801 6655 – push 0 at the menu
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) 022 344 0496
– ABC