Ashley Griffith arrest: Don’t admit liability, church managers told as police traced sex abuse victims

Uniting Church managers were told by their internal insurance expert that they were not to admit any liability as police investigated daycare worker Ashley Griffith for abuse of at least 91 girls in child care, leaked documents reveal.

Ashley Paul Griffith pleaded guilty to 307 charges. Illustration: Scott Breton

Uniting Church managers were told by their internal insurance expert that they were not to admit any liability as police investigated the nation’s worst case of child abuse in daycare, involving the rape and sexual abuse of at least 91 girls in Queensland, NSW and Italy by childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith.

A raft of new documents leaked to The Australian also raise more serious questions about how authorities handled a complaint against Griffith after he appeared to have been seen kissing a sleeping girl at a Brisbane childcare centre 10 months before his arrest.

A local station’s police sergeant was initially assigned to the complaint, and a specialist child protection squad had still not contacted a church manager four days later to take up the investigation, it can now be revealed.

After being cleared by police and the church over the complaint, Griffith went on to rape at least one more girl and sexually abused three others before his arrest in an unrelated investigation.

He pleaded guilty in the District Court in Brisbane last Monday to 307 charges.

Queensland police maintain an internal review cleared officers over their handling of the complaint and of another later one against Griffith, but there are calls for a broad independent inquiry into how he was able to abuse girls for almost two full decades.

Federal police arrested Griffith in August 2022 after reviewing child abuse images and videos recovered eight years earlier in a major 2014 operation by the Queensland police online child exploitation squad, Task Force Argos.

Bedsheets visible in the footage were traced to a Brisbane childcare centre where Griffith had previously worked, leading to his identification as the abuser of an initial two girls, sources say.

More than 4000 images and videos chronicling his rape and sexual abuse of girls in childcare centres were then discovered in a search of his phones, cameras and computers in a raid on his home on the Gold Coast, where he was still working in daycare when he was arrested.

Federal and Queensland police on Friday declined to comment on what if anything could have been done to identify Griffith sooner.

In October 2022, two months after Griffith’s arrest, federal police contacted Uniting Church childcare managers as investigators scrambled to find all the victims he’d recorded on phones and cameras while working in daycare centres.

Subsequently, at 5.45pm on Monday, October 31, 2022, the church’s Queensland communications manager, Rebecca Riggs, sent an email inquiring about the insurance impacts of waiving and refunding fees.

“A parent at (the childcare centre) has raised the waiving of fees and a request for a refund,” Ms Riggs wrote.

The church’s insurance adviser, Phil Barnard, replied at 10.01am the following day.

“Generally, the conditions of insurance policies require that the insured party (UCAQ) not make any admission of liability,” Mr Barnard wrote.

His response to Ms Riggs and other senior managers copied into the email also raised the prospect of obtaining a “release” from the parent.

Mr Barnard did not elaborate, but a release form can involve people waiving their right to sue.

The emails sighted by The Australian do not say why the parent was seeking a refund and fee waiver.

“You haven’t mentioned what the parent’s allegation is or what amount of money is involved but I imagine that it would be a professional indemnity matter i.e. an allegation against our professional delivery of service.

“This policy carries a $20,000 excess,” he wrote.

Former Uniting Church early learning operations manager Yolanda Borucki. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

“It is usually better in situ­ations like this to obtain a ‘release’ of some kind but I understand why you would not want to.”

Also copied into the emails was the church’s early learning operations manager Yolanda ­Borucki and two other managers.

On Friday, October 8, 2021, a 26-year-old educator at the Brisbane childcare centre named in those emails had stumbled across a chilling scene: her boss, Griffith, on top of a girl sleeping in an outdoor fort, his mouth moving as if kissing her.

She detailed her shock and alarm over the incident in an email to an area manager hours later, The Weekend Australian revealed.

“His face was up against hers and his mouth was moving along her mouth,” she wrote.

“I quickly walked inside, shocked by what just happened. I spoke with (a female staff member) explaining what I had seen. My thoughts at this point were to go back out and save the child.”

The incident was officially reported to Queensland government childcare regulators that day and to Queensland police the following day.

Five days later, at 7.20am Wednesday, October 13, 2021, Uniting Church Queensland property trust members and senior managers including general secretary Heather den Houting were sent a lengthy briefing by email.

It was from Ms Borucki, the childcare operations manager, and described the events as a “critical incident” involving “inappropriate interactions” with a child.

Documenting how events unfolded, the email stated that the witness was asked to put her allegations in writing after phoning an area manager who was about to board a flight.

Policy and compliance officer Kaitlyn McGinley and Ms Borucki spoke in the evening about “next steps and legislated requirements”.

People and culture manager Grant Weaver was also informed.

“Child Safety services advised that a report did not need to be made to them but to the QPS,” the email states.

“It was determined that as the immediate risk to the child/ren was mitigated by the service not being open on Saturday, and in order to ensure all the information required for the QPS report was collated that this report would be made first thing Saturday morning.”

On the day of the incident, Ms McGinley formally notified education department regulators of “an allegation of physical or sexual abuse”.

The next day, Saturday, the Uniting Church early education managers met online before police had been notified.

A notice standing down Griffith had been prepared by the ­people and culture manager but had not yet been sent to him.

Ms Borucki sought “guidance and support” in handling the matter from general secretary the Reverend den Houting and the communications and marketing manager, Ms Riggs, who both provided advice on communicating with the girl’s family.

On the same day, Saturday, Ms McGinley “reported the matter via PoliceLink as it was a non-urgent report”, the briefing email states.

“The intake officer advised that a job had been created and that officers would contact the educator who reported to get a full statement.”

A police sergeant from Sandgate station later that day told Ms McGinley that based on the witness’s statement to police, “there was not currently an offence that could be elementised for the purposes of investigation”, the email states.

It was a crucial decision by police.

Separate police logs sighted by The Australian reveal officers came to this view after noting the witness had told them that ­Griffith’s face was 2cm from the girl’s face.

Police who took the witness’s initial statement consulted a Child Protection and Investigation Unit (CPIU) for advice and then logged that the complaint did “not amount to actual physical contact”.

With police told Griffith would be suspended pending an investigation, there appears to have been no urgency to the investigation.

There is no indication police directly asked the witness about stating in her initial email to her manager that Griffith’s “mouth was moving along her (the girl’s) mouth”, which could be taken to suggest actual physical contact.

Griffith’s devices and home were not searched.

According to the briefing email, the police sergeant from Sandgate said “a Child Harm Report would be completed and progressed to CPIU who would likely get in touch either Monday (or) Tuesday”.

Griffith was told he was being stood down in an email from Ms Borucki, who also contacted the girl’s family and informed them of the steps taken to that point.

“The family was obviously concerned and a little bit frustrated by the limited information that was able to be provided,” the church briefing email states.

“As much reassurance as possible was provided regarding steps taken and what would happen next. The family was assured that they would be kept in the loop and provided with as much information as possible as investi­gations progressed.”

On Monday, October 11, 2021, Ms Borucki and Ms McGinley went to the daycare centre and spoke to staff. All were offered support and were “reminded that they should not discuss this matter between themselves”.

Statements from staff were placed in a confidential file note and running sheet for an internal investigation. Potential breaches of national laws and regulations were identified for investigation.

With the little girl due back at the centre on Wednesday as part of her enrolment, church managers were still waiting to hear from the specialist police Child Protection and Investigation Unit.

“As at 3:30pm on (Tuesday) 12 October, (Ms McGinley) has not yet heard from the CPIU,” the email states.

Ms Borucki or another manager would “reach out to see if she will be in care” and would advise the family that someone involved in the internal investigation would be “present and available should they want to discuss the matter in person (within the bounds of what we can disclose)”.

The witness was interviewed by child protection officers at Boondall police station on Nov­ember 6, 2021, almost a month after the incident.

Police logs and transcripts reveal she told investigators her first impression was that Griffith was kissing the girl, but she could not be sure and didn’t actually see any contact.

“He was kind of like pecking his lips and his head was kind of moving,” she said, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Griffith was interviewed on November 8 and denied any wrongdoing, saying he was gently trying to wake the child and that their lips never touched.

Police noted there would be no further investigations.

Griffith was also cleared in an internal Uniting Church investigation and reinstated before being given a redundancy in March 2022.

Documents sighted by The Australian were redacted of any names or identifying details of Griffith’s victims.

In April 2022, Queensland police dismissed a complaint from a three-year-old girl from a different Brisbane daycare centre that Griffith “touched my privates”, according to her mother.

After a complaint from the Uniting Church, alleging that Ms Borucki unlawfully accessed confidential information and provided it to A Current Affair following Griffith’s arrest, Task Force Argos charged her with computer hacking.

She is fighting the charge, and is being represented pro bono by solicitor Jason Murakami and barrister Patrick McCafferty KC.

The Uniting Church Queensland was contacted for comment Sunday.

Contact David Murray on [e-mail]