Australian man accused of sexual abuse of 91 girls
Sydney, Australia, Aug 1 (EFE).- Australian authorities charged a former daycare worker with 1,623 child sexual abuse offenses against 91 girls under 10 between 2007 and 2022, including more than 100 rape charges, the country’s federal police reported Tuesday.
The 45-year-old Australian allegedly recorded thousands of images of his crimes on phones and digital cameras while working in various day care centers in the cities of Brisbane and Sydney, on the Australian east coast, as well as abroad, according to the police statement.
“This is one of the most horrific cases of alleged child abuse our detectives have seen,” Michael Fitzgerald, assistant police commissioner for New South Wales – whose capital is Sydney – said in the statement.
The victims were pre-pubescent girls, the police said in the statement, adding that 87 of the 91 minors, of Australian nationality, who appear in the recordings have been identified.
Australian police said they are working with international agencies to identify the remaining four girls who were sexually abused abroad, though they did not name any specific countries.
“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,” said Australian Federal Police Northern Assistant Commissioner Justin Gough, in the statement.
The man had been arrested in the city of Brisbane, capital of the state of Queensland, by police authorities in August 2022 after being accused of two crimes for producing material on the sexual exploitation of minors and another for using a server to disseminate child pornography.
As part of the investigations, the authorities have carried out searches in several nurseries where the man worked, as well as in his home in the Gold Coast tourist resort in Queensland.
He faces 136 charges in Queensland for rape of a minor, 68 charges for having sex with a person under 10, 42 for aggravated sexual encounter with a person under 10 and 69 for aggravated indecent assault.
He is also accused of 604 crimes of indecent treatment of minors under 16, 613 of production of sexual exploitation material, among others, committed while he worked in 10 day care centers in that state.
The parents of the minors and many of the victims currently over 18, have been informed of the case and been put in contact with the support services for victims of sexual abuse. EFE
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