Childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith pleads guilty to 307 child sex offences at Brisbane Court

Furious parents have erupted outside court after Ashley Paul Griffith pleaded guilty to more than 300 child sex offences questioning how he “got away with it for so long”.

Ashley Paul Griffith has pleaded guilty to more than 300 child sex charges.

Furious parents have packed a courtroom to stare down one of Australia’s worst pedophiles, who pleaded guilty to more than 300 child sex offences committed inside Queensland childcare centres.

There were tears and looks of defiance from the overflowing gallery as the name of dozens of children former childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith is alleged to have targeted in order to film shocking child abuse material were read aloud.

Dressed in a simple striped polo shirt, Griffith stood for three hours, as he pleaded guilty to a record 307 charges. He uttered “guilty” to every one.

The offences happened at childcare centres across Brisbane from as early as 2003.

The 46-year-old faced Brisbane District Court on Monday morning on hundreds of charges which gave him the name as one of Australia’s worst child sex offenders. Parents of one of his victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said from outside court that Griffith had only looked back towards the gallery once over the nearly three hours it took for him to enter all of his pleas.

They said it was “really emotional” to see Griffith in person again, surrounded by so many others whose lives he had altered.

“We were crying, you could hear little sobs from everyone as they worked through (the list of victims),” they said.

“It was conflicting hearing how many there were, and hearing the children’s names as well.

“He was uncomfortable, he was standing up for a long time … Good, feel some pain.”

A court sketch of Ashley Paul Griffith from the Brisbane district court today. Illustration: Scott Breton

Griffith entered a total of 190 guilty pleas to indecently treating a child under 12 in his care, 28 to rape, 67 to making child exploitation material, 15 to maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, four to producing child abuse material outside of Australia, one to distributing child abuse material outside Australia, one to using a carriage service for child pornography material and one to possessing child exploitation material.

The majority of offences were committed at various childcare centres across Brisbane from 2003-22.

Parents speaking to media outside court said the gravity of the situation was stark once the streams of heartbroken and angry parents converged on the court Monday morning.

They said they had previously met and communicated with some of the other victims’ parents, but that Monday had been the first time so many of them had been together in the same room.

“It certainly adds some gravitas to the situation … To know that there’s other people going through those things is a good thing to help,” they said.

Their daughter had been “very young” at the time of the offending, and was now just eight years old, they said.

“We talked to her about it … She doesn’t quite understand,” they said.

“As she grows up, we’ll deal with that as it comes.”

They said Griffith had only worked at their child’s centre for 15 days, and he had been accused of abusing multiple children in that time.

“He was a weird-looking guy, weird vibe,” the mother said.

They said they had come across Griffith alone with their child on two occasions when they came to pick her up.

Stephanie Gallagher, the prosecutor in the case of Ashley Paul Griffith, leaves the Brisbane, District Court. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“I certainly didn’t get any indication that he’d just been offending, until we found out and it all made sense,” the father said. They explained they had no idea what had happened until the “horrific” day five years later when police asked them to identify their child in material allegedly found in Griffith’s possession.

The parents said they had complained about Griffith for an unrelated matter around the time he was working at their child’s centre.

“It was two days after he had been fired, he’d threatened to smack another child,” they said.

They claimed the centre had told them it wasn’t a concern as he no longer worked there.

“And he went on, for the last 30 charges after ours,” they said.

“We certainly feel that there’s something broken in the system … How somebody could get away with something like that for so long, it’s hard to believe that it’s being run as effectively as it could be.”

The court heard the overseas charges were each committed while Griffith was in Pisa, Italy.

A sentencing date has not yet been fixed.

Crown prosecutor Stephanie Gallagher said presentence and psychiatric reports still needed to be prepared.

Ms Gallagher said the sentence may need to accommodate a large number of victims who may wish to give impact statements to the count.

Griffith was remanded in custody for the matters next mention next Monday.