Police told to review handling of complaints about Brisbane childcare paedophile

Queensland’s police minister has asked for another review into how officers handled complaints about one of Australia’s worst paedophiles.

Ashley Paul Griffith raped and abused children at several Brisbane childcare centres.

Two days after Griffith stood before heartbroken families in the Brisbane District Court and pleaded guilty to 307 child abuse charges, Police Minister Mark Ryan said he had asked the police commissioner to launch a new review.

Gold Coast man Ashley Paul Griffith pleaded guilty to more than 300 offences on Monday.Credit: Nine

After Griffith’s arraignment on Monday, the parents of one young girl questioned how the childcare system had failed to detect the offending earlier, with abuses spanning from 2003 to 2022, the year he was arrested.

Queensland police said there had already been an internal review into how complaints about Griffith, 46, had been dealt with.

A police spokeswoman said that review was conducted by an independent senior detective with child protection experience.

“This review found both investigations had been conducted according to [Queensland Police Service] policy and concurred with the original findings that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate a criminal offence based on what was known at the time,” the spokeswoman said.

“Some evidence that was presented during the recent prosecution was not known at the time of the original QPS investigations.”

Yolanda Borucki, who worked with Griffith at one of the centres, told A Current Affair last year that she had alerted police in 2021 to an incident involving him.

After going to the media, she was charged with computer hacking, and her case remains before the courts.

The statement from police said: “The allegations circulating publicly about the 2021 complaint made to the QPS that a child was kissed are incorrect. The complaint did not relate to physical contact with a child.”

On Wednesday, the police minister extended his sympathies to the families who had been devastated by what he described as “the abominable actions of this despicable offender”.

“The level of trauma he has inflicted upon so many is almost beyond comprehension,” Ryan said.

“I know that police will always do their very best to act upon complaints and conduct thorough investigations to ensure that perpetrators are held to account.

“Notwithstanding this matter having been previously reviewed, I have asked the commissioner if this matter could be examined again. “If any improvements or learnings can be identified, then it is my expectation that they should be implemented as soon as possible.”

Ryan had not formally ordered Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski to conduct the review, and Gollschewski was yet to signal his intentions.

The police spokeswoman said the service would continue to consider the investigation as the case progressed through the court.

Griffith’s case is due back before the District Court in Brisbane on September 9, when a date for his sentencing is to be set.