The alleged crimes took place between 2007 and 2022 while he was working at 10 child-care centers in Brisbane, one in Sydney and an early learning center in an unnamed overseas country, police said. The man also recorded his alleged offenses on phones and cameras, they said.
“This is one of the most horrific child abuse cases that I’ve seen in nearly 40 years of policing,” New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald told reporters Tuesday. “It’s beyond the realms of anyone’s imagination what this person did to these children.”
The charges announced Tuesday are the culmination of a years-long investigation by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) after Queensland police found images and videos of alleged child abuse on the dark web in 2014.
The man, from Australia’s Gold Coast, was arrested in Brisbane last August, police said, and was at the time charged with making and distributing child abuse material allegedly on the dark web. The AFP launched “Operation Tenterfield” immediately after his arrest, it said in the Tuesday statement, and he remains in custody.
While the dark web is not in itself illegal, it is a layer of the internet visible only with special browsers, where some participants undertake illicit activities including hacking and cybercrime, drug offenses and child pornography.
“The AFP believes the man recorded all his alleged offending” while working at the child-care centers, police said, adding that they are not naming the centers to protect the alleged victims’ identities.
“This is chilling news,” AFP Northern Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said in a statement Tuesday. “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.”
“This is a distressing time for families, carers and the community broadly,” Gough added, urging survivors of sexual abuse to seek support in light of the case.
Police said specialist teams undertook “detailed forensic investigations” of more than 4,000 images and videos as part of their investigation.
Of the 91 children, 87 are Australian, police said, adding that they had informed those children’s parents of the investigation. Police are also working with international authorities to help identify the four other children recorded overseas, they said.
“Some of the individuals identified in the alleged child abuse material are now aged over 18 years,” they added.
In Australia, the maximum penalty for rape is life imprisonment. The other offenses the man was charged with, such as the indecent treatment of a child under 16 and making child exploitation material, carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison, the police statement said.
The perpetrator has not entered a plea, police said. His case is due to begin at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Aug. 21.
