Joshua Dale Brown: Police say more charges possible in case of alleged Melbourne childcare abuser
Joshua Dale Brown was charged in May with more than 70 offences, including possessing child abuse material, and police said their investigation is continuing.
New charges could potentially be laid against a Melbourne childcare worker accused of abusing children, a court has been told.
Joshua Dale Brown, 26, was charged in May with more than 70 offences including sexual activity in presence of a child under 16, sexual assault of a child under 16 and possessing child abuse material.
He has yet to enter pleas to the charges.
After his arrest, Mr Brown was remanded in custody and was initially expected to appear before Melbourne Magistrates Court on September 15.
High-profile barrister Rishi Nathwani KC appeared in court on Tuesday as prosecutors requested additional time to prepare a hand-up brief of their evidence against Mr Brown.
Mr Brown did not appear in court for the brief hearing.
Magistrate Donna Bakos approved the request for police to provide their case to Mr Brown’s lawyers by December 4.
The court was told police had provided a sworn affidavit in support of the delay, which was unopposed by Mr Nathwani.
The barrister said the affidavit was “helpful and detailed” in setting out the significant investigational steps police still need to undertake.
Mr Nathwani also flagged the informant - the detective who laid the charges - had written that there was the potential for further charges and amendments to the existing charges.
He opposed a media application to access Mr Brown’s charge sheets, arguing the charges are in “flux” and releasing them to the media would be “unfair”.
“It would hinder the realisation of natural justice,” he argued.
Ms Bakos disagreed, saying she did not have a proper basis not to release the charges sheets.
Mr Brown’s case was made public on July 1 after a suppression order was lifted, with police alleging Mr Brown abused eight children between the ages of five months and two years old.
Since then, police have established Brown worked at 23 childcare centres across Melbourne between January 2017 and May 2025, urging parents and carers to have 2000 children tested for sexually transmitted infections.
On July 15, Victoria Police said establishing Mr Brown’s work history had been “extremely complex” due to childcare providers not having centralised records.
The force said the investigation remains “ongoing” and “active”, expecting to release further updates in the coming weeks.
In a statement, Acting Commander of Victoria Police’s Crime Command Janet Stevenson said the investigation remains the “highest priority” for police.
“We are working through a large amount of information that has been provided to us,” she said.
“I understand there are people who will be frustrated and I want to reinforce that this is a continually evolving and changing situation.
“I also want to remind people, especially those struggling with this news, that there is a number of support services readily available for impacted parties and I strongly encourage people to seek those out.”
Mr Brown is expected to return to court in February.
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