Former childcare worker Bronte John Ciracovitch and ex-boyfriend Kane Graham Rockley to stand trial charged with child sex abuse crimes

A childcare worker whose alleged sex crimes sparked notifications to 180 families will stand trial – as will his former boyfriend.

A former childcare worker and his ex-boyfriend have been ordered to stand trial over child sex abuse allegations that sparked notifications to 180 families north of Adelaide.

In the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday, Bronte John Ciracovitch – who has already confessed to one crime – pleaded not guilty to seven further child abuse counts.

His ex-lover, Kane Graham Rockley, also pleaded not guilty to allegations he used a mobile phone to film a boy, 4, in the shower.

However, The Advertiser can reveal that, at trial, Rockley will allege Ciracovitch is solely responsible for that crime as well.

Rockley’s counsel will allege the phone used to make the video was registered in their client’s name but paid for, and always in the possession of, Ciracovitch.

The duo’s pleas caused further distress to two mothers whose children attended Child Care Services Australia facilities during Ciracovitch’s tenure with the company.

They said that, prior to the lifting of suppression orders in the case in March, families had been told only that Ciracovitch was accused of “sexual misconduct outside his job”.

“It’s just soul-destroying, just devastating … there’s nothing worse, literally nothing worse, than these sorts of allegations … they’re disgusting,” one of the women said.

“I will never have my children in a childcare centre with male workers, not ever again … if a male starts at a centre they’re attending, I’ll pull my kids out.

“There’s a lot of kids who’ve left Child Care Services Australia since this case began.”

Kane Graham Rockley, left, and Bronte John Ciracovitch, right, will stand trial for child exploitation offending.

In October last year, police arrested Rockley, 34, and warned his “deeply concerning” allegation could be “part of a bigger investigation”.

Ciracovitch, 30, was arrested shortly after but his name and charges remained suppressed until March – he was then rearrested and charged with further offending.

Last week, he pleaded guilty to having produced, or taken steps to produce, child exploitation material at one of his employer’s northern suburbs centres in late 2020.

Ciracovitch faces a maximum 15-year jail term because the victim of that offence was under the age of 14 years.

On Monday, he pleaded not guilty to offences including maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a minor and possessing and producing exploitation material.

Rockley, meanwhile, pleaded not guilty to one count of producing child exploitation material.

David Moen, for Rockley, asked the court to ensure prosecutors hand over all relevant evidentiary material before his client’s matter progressed.

“We request they provide the e-crime information about the telephone allegedly involved in the offending,” he said.

“We say it will show our client was not in possession of the phone at the time of the alleged offending.”

Magistrate Simon Smart remanded Rockley on continuing bail, and Ciracovitch in custody, to face the District Court in August.

Outside court, the mothers said they would see the case through to its end.

“From everything we saw, we adored Ciracovitch and we trusted him … it was just disbelief when we heard what he’d been accused of,” one woman said.

“We thought ‘this person that we know could not do this, he just couldn’t’ … now, we just feel sick.”