Queensland Police asked to reinvestigate failed complaints about pedophile Ashley Paul Griffith
The Queensland Police Minister has demanded a new internal investigation into officers’ handling of complaints about a childcare worker’s behaviour with young girls before he was unmasked as Australia’s worst pedophile.
The Queensland Police Minister has demanded a new internal investigation into officers’ handling of complaints about a childcare worker’s behaviour with young girls before he was unmasked as Australia’s worst pedophile.
After Ashley Paul Griffith, 46, pleaded guilty to more than 300 charges of child exploitation on Monday, Labor government minister Mark Ryan ordered Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski to conduct another review of how two complaints made to officers in 2021 and ’22 were handled.
An internal review was previously completed by police, which found the matters were appropriately investigated and the claims could not be substantiated.
Mr Ryan said it was important nothing else could be learned.
“The level of trauma he has inflicted upon so many is almost beyond comprehension,” Mr Ryan said. “Speaking generally, I know 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 they should be implemented as soon as possible.”
A former co-worker of Griffith, Yolanda Borucki, 60, alerted police in August 2021 to an incident involving the man and a child. However, investigators said there was insufficient evidence to lay charges. Within weeks, he returned to the centre before moving on to two other facilities in neighbouring northside suburbs in early 2022.
A separate investigation was undertaken by Queensland Police in April 2022, but no details are known. In that time, he assaulted several other young girls before his arrest that August.
A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said the review was conducted by an independent senior detective with significant child protection experience.
“This review found both investigations had been conducted according to QPS 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,” she said.
“Some evidence that was presented during the recent prosecution was not known at the time of the original QPS investigations.
“The QPS will continue to consider this investigation as legal proceedings progress.”
Had Griffith been charged with an offence in either instance, his Blue Card – which allowed him to work with children – would have been revoked.
A Blue Card is cancelled only if a holder is charged with a relevant offence, with police information monitored daily. Griffith’s card was suspended and his employer notified after his arrest in 2022.
Ms Borucki eventually went to the media and was charged by detectives from Task Force Argos – responsible for investigating online child exploitation and abuse – with computer hacking. The matter is still before the courts.
Australian Federal Police officers arrested Griffith after an eight-year investigation into child exploitation material found on the dark web led them back to the man who worked in almost a dozen childcare centres in Brisbane, Sydney and Pisa, Italy, from 2007 to 2022. Investigators tracked bed sheets in the images back to those used in childcare centres in Brisbane.
On Monday, Griffith pleaded guilty to 28 counts of rape of at least a dozen different children, 15 counts of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child, 190 counts of unlawfully and indecently dealing with a child and 67 counts of making child exploitation material, among several other charges.
The matter will next be heard for a mention on September 9, with sentencing likely later this year.
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