Ashley Paul Griffith: Evil care centre paedophile to learn his fate after admitting more than 300 sickening offences, including 28 child rapes
A childcare worker who admitted to hundreds of sex crimes against young girls will soon be sentenced, a prosecutor says the victims’ families can’t wait any longer.
Ashley Paul Griffith, 46, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on September 2 to more than 300 child sex offences, including 28 counts of rape, as well as persistent sexual abuse and making child exploitation material.
He admitted to committing offences against multiple children while working in daycare centres in Brisbane between January 2003 and August 2022.
Griffith’s case was brought up for hearing on Monday to set a date for his sentencing, which is likely to take two days as many family members read their victim impact statements in court.
Defence lawyer Sarah Cartledge told Judge Leanne Clare she was concerned that a court-ordered psychiatric report on Griffith might not be ready in time for the potential sentencing in November.
“There is a lot of information for the psychiatrist and the report itself will be long,” Ms Cartledge said.
“It is not an easy task. It is an important case. Psychiatric reports take time and this is a complex case.”
Ashley Paul Griffith, 46, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on September 2 to more than 300 child sex offences, including 28 charges of rape, as well as persistent sexual abuse and making child abuse material.
Griffith’s case was called Monday to set a date for his sentencing, which will likely take two days due to the number of family members who will be able to read their victim impact statements in court.
Ms Cartledge said Griffith had pleaded guilty and was in custody, so from a defence perspective there was no reason to set a sentence before January 2025.
Prosecutor Stephanie Gallagher said she wanted to finalize the sentencing before the end of the year.
“There are 65 victims and 65 families who want to see a punishment. November gives us plenty of time. There is no indication that the report will not be ready,” she said.
Judge Clare on Monday set a date for Griffith’s sentencing for November 28 and 29 and adjourned the case.
Griffith was arrested by Australian Federal Police in August 2022 and originally charged with more than 1,000 offences against 91 young girls, but hundreds of charges were later dropped.
In September, he pleaded guilty to 190 counts of indecent exposure of children under the age of 12 while serving as a caregiver, 67 counts of making indecent photographs and videos of children, and 15 counts of repeated sexual abuse of a child.
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