A former Australian childcare worker has been charged with the sexual assault of 91 children, in what police described on Tuesday August 1 as one of the most common child abuse cases. “more horrible” what the country has known.
The assaults took place in ten different child care centers between 2007 and 2022 and were aimed exclusively “prepubescent girls”, according to the police. The youngest victims were one year old.
The 45-year-old was charged with 1,623 crimes including 136 rapes and 110 sexual acts with children under the age of 10, police added. Investigators arrested him after finding child pornography on the dark web whose background helped trace the trail to an establishment in Brisbane, the most populous city in the western state of Queensland.
More than 4,000 images and videos were discovered on his phone and computer, with officers measuring the severity of the “abominable” alleged crimes of the former childcare worker. Of the 91 alleged victims, 87 are Australian, and police believe the other four were victims of the man between 2013 and 2014 when he briefly worked overseas.
“Beyond comprehension”
Police said they were cooperating with international agencies to find the four victims, but did not reveal which countries were being considered. “I cannot bring much comfort to the parents and children who have been identified”lamented the assistant federal commissioner, Justine Gough.
“This is a trying time for families, those who care for (children) and the community in general”, she added. NSW Deputy Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald said it was one of the worst cases he had ever seen. “What this person did to these children is beyond comprehension”he estimated.
‘I can only say, you’re trying not to be shocked after being in the force for a long time, but it’s an appalling affair’. Some 35 detectives and investigators from the states of Queensland and New South Wales made up the team responsible for sifting through the child pornography content discovered by the police.
The team explained that the man had passed the rigorous background checks required to work in childcare centers in Australia. He is due in court in Queensland on August 21. Once these legal proceedings are completed, he will be extradited to New South Wales where he will have to answer other charges.