Australian police have charged a 45-year-old man with 1623 child abuse offences against 91 girls.
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said on Tuesday the offences include 136 counts of rape and 110 counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10 that were allegedly committed in Brisbane, Sydney and overseas between 2007 and 2022.
The alleged offences took place at 10 childcare centres in Brisbane between 2007 and 2013 and 2018-2022, an overseas location in 2013 and 2014, and one centre in Sydney between 2014 and 2017.
Ms. Gough said all parents of impacted children have been notified.
She said all of the alleged victims were prepubescent girls, with some now over the age of 18.
“We allege the 45-year-old man from the Gold Coast recorded all his alleged offending on his phone and cameras,'' Ms. Gough said.
“The AFP is highly confident that all 87 Australian children who are recorded in the alleged child abuse material have been identified.”
She said the man’s offending was sophisticated, and it took a team of 35 experts examining troves of data to find enough evidence to lay charges.
“Given there were 70 alleged images and videos of children recorded over 15 years by the alleged offender, the process of identification took time, skill and determination,” Ms. Gough said
The AFP is working with international police to identify the four overseas victims.
The man had all the qualifications necessary to work with children and was only arrested in August of last year. He remains in custody.
Queensland Acting Assistant Commissioner Col Briggs said a joint agency task force formed between the AFP and Queensland Police reviewed nearly 4000 seized images and videos the man had allegedly created.
He said Queensland officers monitoring activity on the darknet first located pictures of the children being shared and began the process of identification.
Furniture and items in the background of the photos were then physically matched to a childcare centre in Brisbane.
Mr. Briggs said it was an incredibly difficult and lengthy investigation between a number of jurisdictions.
“This is another example of how unity between policing jurisdictions in a dedicated investigation can lead to an outcome like this, even the most complex of investigations,” he said.
The 45-year-old was initially charged by federal officers with two counts of making child exploitation material and one count of using a carriage service for child pornography material.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald from NSW Police said officers will be seeking the man’s extradition to face a further 180 charges of child sexual abuse.
He said the charges carry a term of life imprisonment.
“This is one of the most horrific child abuse cases that I’ve seen in nearly 40 years of policing in NSW,'' Mr Fitzgerald said.
“Police will continue to relentlessly pursue this matter, on behalf of the 23 victims, it will remain our number one priority.”
The case is scheduled for mention in Brisbane Magistrates Court on 21 August.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)
