Australia’s worst paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith’s evil act after being told he was losing his job at daycare centre
A serial paedophile, dubbed Australia’s worst, raped a little girl at a daycare centre shortly after being told he would lose his job there.
Ashley Paul Griffith, 45, pleaded guilty to 307 counts of child abuse in Brisbane District Court this month. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 28-29.
Court records show that in the weeks after Yolanda Borucki, the Uniting Church childcare centre’s operations manager, told Griffith his position had been eliminated, he submitted a letter of resignation, sent an email to parents to inform them and then sexually abused a new victim at the centre, according to a report. The Australian.
Five of the 307 charges against Griffith relate to the rape, assault and institutionalization of a girl between March 23 and April 1, 2022, in the same neighborhood where the daycare is located.
Griffith was told he had been fired earlier that month, on March 14. He handed in his resignation on March 23, and on March 31, he emailed his parents.
Shockingly, five months before his dismissal, a colleague at the daycare had raised the alarm. She had seen Griffith kneeling in an open-air fort above a sleeping girl, his face an inch from hers.
She said it looked like he was “kissing” the girl and the worker instinctively said she wanted to “save” her. She said Griffith became angry when she interrupted him.
The matter was reported to the police, who investigated, while the centre’s management conducted its own investigation.
Ashley Paul Griffith, 45, (pictured) has pleaded guilty to 307 charges in a Queensland court and will later appear in a NSW court to face more charges
Neither investigation led to any action, as Griffith was not officially seen touching the girl. The distraught colleague resigned.
Despite both investigations acquitting him, five months later an email was sent to the then general secretary of the church, Reverend Heather den Houting, with the subject line ‘Termination Request’.
The email from Grant Weaver, the church’s then-director of people, culture and learning, stated that enrollment at the center was declining and that a restructuring would be needed that would eliminate Griffith’s position.
The Secretary General replied, āGo ahead,ā after which Mr Weaver emailed Ms Borucki and another manager to inform them that the resignation had been āapproved.ā
Yolanda Borucki (pictured) was the manager of the Uniting Church daycare. She informed Griffith that his position had been terminated in March 2022
In August 2022, Griffith was arrested and charged with two counts of producing child exploitation material and one count of using a transportation service for child pornography.
After his electronic equipment was seized, he was hit with hundreds of charges against 91 children.
Queensland Police Minister Mark Ryan has ordered a new internal investigation into how the previous allegations were handled.
QPS investigated the October 2021 complaint and another complaint in April 2022, but concluded that there was insufficient evidence to establish a criminal offence.
QPS confirmed in a statement that both cases were subject to an āinternal investigationā by an independent senior investigator with significant experience in child protection.
āThis investigation found that both investigations were conducted in accordance with QPS policy and that, based on knowledge at the time, there was insufficient evidence to establish a criminal offence,ā a spokeswoman said.
‘When further information and evidence was identified as part of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) Operation Tenterfield, the AFP executed a search warrant at the man’s home in August 2022.’
In early 2024, he was arraigned in District Court on a greatly reduced 320-count indictment.
The victims’ families attended the Brisbane District Court (pictured) this month for the hearing
Griffith pleaded guilty to 307 charges, including 190 counts of indecent treatment of children, 67 counts of making child exploitation material and 28 counts of rape.
There are also 15 counts of maintaining an unlawful relationship with a child, four counts of producing child exploitation material, one count of distributing child exploitation material, one count of possessing child exploitation material and one count of using a transportation service to access child pornography.
The charges relate to violations at daycare centers in the Brisbane region and Pisa, Italy.
Once the matters are concluded, he will appear in court in New South Wales on a new series of charges relating to alleged offences in that state.
Griffith is alleged to have recorded his abuse of children ā allegedly all pre-pubescent girls ā while working in ten daycare centres in Brisbane between 2007 and 2013 and between 2018 and 2022.
Police allege further crimes took place at a location in Europe between 2013 and 2014 and at a centre in Sydney between 2014 and 2017.
Griffith has worked at other daycare centers, but is said not to have committed any crime there.