A former childcare worker has been charged with 1,623 child abuse offences against 91 children, including 136 counts of rape and 110 counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10.
An investigation involving the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Queensland and New South Wales police led to the arrest of the Gold Coast man for offences committed in Brisbane, Sydney and overseas between 2007 and 2022.
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The AFP says they became aware of the Gold Coast childcare worker’s alleged offence after finding a dark web video in August last year.
They arrested him a day later, allegedly finding self-produced child abuse material on his phones and cameras while working in 10 childcare centres in Brisbane between 2007 to 2013 and from 2018 to 2022.
AFP Northern Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said the AFP and other agencies provided ongoing support to parents and children.
“I can assure members of the Australian public that if you have not been contacted by law enforcement, it is extremely unlikely your child was allegedly offended by the man,” Ms Gough said.
Ms Gough said the AFP was “highly-confident” that all the Australian children who were recorded in the alleged child abuse material have been identified.
“Given there were so many alleged images and videos of children recorded over 15 years on the alleged offender’s devices, the process of identification took time, skill and determination,” she added.
She described the alleged offending as “deeply distressing” and “unfathomable”.
“We know this type of news can re-traumatise survivors of sexual abuse, and, please, I urge those survivors to seek support, or talk to a trusted network, if today’s news has caused distress.”
The man has been in custody in Queensland since August 2022, and the case is scheduled for a mention in Brisbane Magistrates Court on 21 August 2023.
More to come.
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