In a chilling spate of crimes that spanned 15 years, an Australian former childcare worker has been charged with sexually abusing 91 young girls.
The 45-year-old man was charged with 1,623 separate offenses- including 136 counts of rape, 110 counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10, and 613 counts of producing child exploitation material, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Tuesday.
The man allegedly committed the offense at 12 childcare centers in Brisbane, Sydney, and overseas between 2007 and 2022.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) described this case as one of the most horrific cases of alleged child abuse in the country.
According to the Police, the man recorded himself sexually abusing the pre-pubescent girls on phones and cameras.
The Police have identified all 87 Australian children who were recorded in the alleged child abuse materials. The parents of all the children recorded and some of the victims now aged over 18 years have been informed.
The suspect has been in custody in Queensland since August 2022 when the Police arrested and charged him initially with two counts of making child exploitation material and one count of using a carriage service for child pornography material.
AFP then launched Operation Tenterfield after finding self-produced child abuse material on electronic devices owned by the suspect.
“The genesis of Operation Tenterfield is linked to Queensland Police Service (QPS) locating alleged child abuse images and videos on the dark web in 2014.
“QPS posted them on an international victim identification database, seeking assistance from the global victim-identification community. The AFP and other agencies examined the images but they contained few distinguishable clues for investigators to follow.
“But in August 2022, the AFP was able to trace objects identified in the background of the alleged images and videos posted on the dark web between 2013 and 2014 to a Brisbane childcare center.
“Following inquiries with the childcare center, the AFP executed a search warrant on 20 August 2022, in Brisbane, and arrested the man in Brisbane’s southwestern suburbs. He was charged with making and distributing child abuse material that was allegedly posted on the dark web.
“In the next 48 hours, the AFP executed two further search warrants including at the man’s Gold Coast home, and seized electronic devices allegedly containing child abuse material created by the man.
In September 2022, the AFP coordinated a joint-agency taskforce with QPS at the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) to review nearly 4000 seized images and videos the man had allegedly created.
“Victim identification specialists helped identify 91 children who had allegedly been offended against by the man.”
AFP Northern Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said “Given there were so many alleged images and videos of children recorded over 15 years on the alleged offender’s devices, the process of identification took time, skill and determination.
“While I am extremely proud of law enforcement’s persistence and their unwavering dedication to identify this alleged offender, and stop further abuse, this is chilling news.
“It is with a heavy heart that the AFP and other law enforcement dedicate so much time and resources to prevent and take action against individuals who commit heinous crimes against children.”
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