Victoria is often labelled the suppression order state. This case was very different

The force is usually more conservative and bound by only revealing an accused person’s age and the suburb they live in. In this case police took the extra step of having Joshua Brown’s suppression order lifted.

Victoria Police today made the rare move of naming a man accused of the most sickening crimes against children.

The force is usually more conservative and bound by only revealing an accused person’s age and the suburb they live in.

But they deemed the public had a right to know who Joshua Brown was.

Victoria Police deemed the public had a right to know who Joshua Brown was.

The 26-year-old Point Cook man has been charged with allegedly abusing eight children, aged five months to two years, while working at Creative Gardens ELC in Point Cook.

So serious are the allegations, spanning from April 2022 to January 2023, police took the extra step of having a suppression order prohibiting his name being published lifted.

It was an unusual decision, Acting Commander Janet Stevenson said, citing safety and awareness.

“We felt that it was really important. This is unique,” she said.

“This is very important to ensure that every parent out there that has a child in childcare knows who he is and where he worked.”

Joshua Brown has been charged with allegedly abusing eight children, aged five months to two years.

For more than six weeks Mr Brown’s identity had been subject to a suppression order.

Many people would ask why? How is that open justice?

Surely the public had a right to know about these alleged heinous crimes against our most vulnerable citizens from day one.

During his first appearance at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on May 12, police successfully applied to the court for his name and any details of their investigation to be suppressed “to avoid causing undue distress or embarrassment to a child who is a witness”.

The Herald Sun understands investigators wanted more time to be able to liaise with the alleged victims’ families — and any other families who may have been affected — before the allegations went public.

Police took the extra step of having a suppression order prohibiting Joshua Brown’s name being published lifted.

Victoria is often labelled the suppression order state.

As a senior court reporter at the Herald Sun for almost a decade, I see people charged with the most serious criminal offences getting gag orders to conceal their identities from the public.

They often argue mental health grounds.

But this case was very different. It was not about protecting Mr Brown.

He did not apply to have his name suppressed.

It was about protecting the alleged victims and their families until the time was right. That time was now.