Ashley Paul Griffith to be sentenced over child sex offences

The state’s top prosecutor has asked for childcare pedophile Ashley Paul Griffith to be sentenced to life imprisonment as victims of his crimes reveal the depth of their trauma.

Ashley Paul Griffith is facing more than 1600 charges.

Queensland’s top prosecutor has asked for Ashley Paul Griffith to be sentenced to life imprisonment.

One of Australia’s worst child sex offenders, who raped and abused scores of society’s most vulnerable and innocent across numerous childcare centres, he will be sentenced in Brisbane over a distressing two days starting this morning.

The 46-year-old former childcare centre carer has pleaded guilty to more than 300 charges involving rape, indecent treatment of children under 12 by carer and making child exploitation material.

The sickening abuse that saw Griffith prey on young children over nearly two decades will be detailed before Judge Paul Smith in Brisbane’s District Court. There are 65 victims from Queensland and four from overseas.

He was finally stopped in August 2022 when he was arrested following an Australian Federal Police investigation and charged with three offences.

Director of Public Prosecutions Todd Fuller, KC, said the victim impact statements showed the offending was “far reaching and never ending”.

“It shows the insidious nature of the offending and the impact that flows from that and you honour is required to take that into account,”he said.

The impact on the children “was not able to be measured”.

In arguing the offending was in the worst category Mr Fuller said it spanned a long time, was persistent and the court could have little confidence “he could ever be rehabilitated.”

The recordings of the abuse made by Griffith was an aggravating feature.

“Memorialising the degradation and suffering of the child added another dimension of calculation and perversion,” he said.

“He was calculating in this activity at times recording on two cameras to allow for his offending against children to be captured from different angles.

“He had engaged in montaging and creating films, he had memorialized what occurred, saving the abuse material. He saved his recordings onto his devices so he could watch it again for his own sexual gratification. He was methodical about this, saving the material in folders with the victims names and naming folders consistent with the acts and the creation of those other videos is an example of his level of depravity.”

Mr Fuller said Griffith’s plea of guilty and cooperation with police should be given no weight in mitigating his sentence

A psychiatric report tendered in court revealed the depth of Griffith’s depravity.

In discussions with the doctor he considered whether he “had permission to continue because the children never asked him to stop”.

“He felt that they enjoyed the relationship with him, and they made them feel good about himself,” Mr Fuller said Griffith told the doctor.

Mr Fuller said Griffith was manipulative.

“Given the severity of Mr Griffith’s offending, even though at assessment he presented is empathetic towards the victims, it’s very likely that he indeed lacks empathy for his victims,” he said.

The court heard he had been employed in child care his entire adult working life including while overseas despite gaining a degree in science.

He was of average intelligence and the psychiatrist could not identify anything in childhood or upbringing that contributed to his offending.

Griffith’s barrister Sarah Cartledge argued the offending was not in the worst category and there had been significant cooperation by her client.

Mr Fuller asked the court to impose a non-parole period of 30 years.

Ms Cartledge sought a sentence of 25 to 30 years with a non parole period of 15 years.

Judge Smith adjourned sentencing until 11am tomorrow.

HOW BLANKET BRAND IDENTIFIED GRIFFITH

Mr Fuller told the court that in 2014 police began investigating a disturbing child exploitation website on the dark web called the Love Zone or TLZ that was administered by a user in South Australia.

DPP Todd Fuller KC outside the Brisbane District Court. Picture: John Gass

It hosted extreme child exploitation material (CEM) and users could gain access to even more disturbing material if they themselves uploaded at least four gigabytes of CEM to the site.

In 2013 to 2014 Griffith, going by the username Zimbal, was given access that material after he uploaded videos of six female children being sexually abused in a daycare facility.

A joint AFP and Queensland Police investigation named Tenterfield was launched to identify Zimbal and the victims in the recordings, the court heard.

The Love Zone was shut down in late 2014 and the administrator charged.

“What then took place, Your Honor, was a lengthy and painstaking investigation, which stalled on a number of occasions, however in 2022 reviewing one of the (Griffith) videos, a brand of blanket was visible, and it was identified as one which was sold to daycare centres here in Queensland,” Mr Fuller said.

“Police then set about the task of identifying the daycare centres where such blankets were used, and as a result, identified some of those centres which were depicted in the videos, and then through employment records, identified the defendant as Zimbal.

“The professionalism of both agencies is to be applauded in their efforts in that case.”

Griffith’s home was raided and electronic devices seized.

They contained videos and images that became the basis for all 307 charges against him bar one.

There were also nearly 19,000 other CEM images not related to offending against children on the indictment.

Mr Fuller said a NSW Police arrest warrant was waiting for Griffith.

Last year Griffith was charged with more than 1600 offences before this was reduced to 307 that he pleaded guilty to.

The court heard in one instance more than 50 acts of separatly charged sexual abuse against a single child was whittled down to a single charge of repeated sexual conduct with a child.

‘PROFOUND IMPACT’: VICTIMS SHARE IMPACT OF ABUSE

Harrowing victim impact statements from shattered parents dealing with the heinous crimes that Griffith visited on their young families are being read in to the record.

One girl was three or four when she was abused by him many times, which he recorded and uploaded to the dark web.

“This all happened while I was under his care at kindergarten. His actions have profoundly impacted my life,” she said.

“I want to make sure he can never harm a little girl again.”

The girl, who didn’t know she had been abused until informed in 2022, developed severe mental health difficulties growing up without ever knowing why after Griffith “preyed on me to fulfil his disgusting sexual fantasies”.

A court sketch of former childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith, named Australia's worst pedophile, who appeared at Brisbane Supreme Court today. Picture: Brett Lethbridge

Her mother also explained how the girl from a young age was scared of speaking to adults.

“Sometimes I’d get frustrated and tell her off for being rude. We didn’t know at the time that her tears of silence was because she was scared of them.

“She didn’t have the vocabulary to tell us why she was scared of adults, she just knew there were people to be feared.

“She had nightmares about monsters upstairs.She was too young to explain that the monster upstairs giving her nightmares was a man.”

The mother said being told of the abuse was a nightmare but had made sense of things.

“The guilt is overwhelming,” she said.

ABUSER IN COURT AS PROSECUTOR READS CHARGES

Mr Fuller this morning read out the 307 charges Griffith has pleaded guilty to and asked he be sentenced to life for the four counts of repeated sexual offending with a child.

The balding and unshaven Griffith is wearing a hooded green military style jacket and black floral shirt. He is separated by a 10mm clear perspex screen from victims, some of who broke down as the vile offending was detailed by Mr Fuller.

“The true horror of the offending is hard to capture in words,” Mr Fuller said.

“The offending is abhorrent and difficult to comprehend.”

Some of the children were stripped naked, abused while asleep, at times they were awake and he distracted them with toys.

He persisted when they asked him to stop on occasion.

Some of the details are too disturbing and graphic to be published here but will remain seared in the minds of those present.

Mr Fuller said Griffith manipulated circumstances to place him and the victims in isolated circumstances.

The victims were all aged between 2 and 7 but mainly between 3 and 5.

A psychiatric report indicated Griffith has a pedophilic disorder with a high level of sexual deviance and a high risk of reoffending.

The full extent of Griffith’s unthinkable depravity was revealed in electronic devices seized by the AFP at the time and a year later he was charged with more than 1600 offences.

The case was fast tracked through the court system and Griffith ultimately pleaded guilty to a reduced 307 offences in September.

They are 190 counts of indecently treating a child under 12 in his care, 28 counts of rape, 67 counts of making child exploitation material, 15 counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, four counts of producing child abuse material outside of Australia and one count each of distributing child abuse material outside Australia, using a carriage service for child pornography material and possessing child exploitation material.

Judge Smith is expected to conclude his sentencing on Friday.

The NSW police commissioner has said that once Griffith is dealt with in Queensland, there are plans to extradite him to face more than 100 charges relating to 23 complainants.