Australia’s worst paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith’s evil act after being told he was losing his job at daycare centre

A serial paedophile, dubbed Australia’s worst, raped a little girl at a daycare centre shortly after being told he was losing his job there. 

Ashley Paul Griffith, 45, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court this month to 307 child abuse-linked charges with his sentencing hearing set for November 28 and 29. 

Court records indicate in the weeks after Yolanda Borucki, the operations manager at the Uniting Church daycare, told Griffith his position had been made redundant he handed in a resignation letter, emailed parents to inform them and then sexually assaulted a new victim at the centre, reports The Australian. 

Five of the 307 charges against Griffith concern the rape, abuse and recording of a girl between March 23 and April 1 2022, listed as in the same suburb where the daycare centre is located. 

Griffith was told he was made redundant earlier that month on March 14, handed in his resignation on March 23 and emailed parents on March 31. 

Shockingly, five months before his redundancy a co-worker at the daycare centre had raised the alarm that she had witnessed Griffith kneeling over a young, sleeping girl in an outdoor fort with his face 2cm from hers. 

She said it appeared as if he was ‘kissing’ the girl and the worker’s instinct was that she wanted to ‘save’ her. She said Griffith became angry when she interrupted him. 

The matter was reported to police who investigated while the centre’s management conducted their own investigation.

Neither probe resulted in any action as Griffith had technically not been seen touching the girl, causing the distraught co-worker to quit her job. 

Despite both investigations clearing him, five months later an email was sent to the then-general secretary of the church Reverend Heather den Houting, with the subject field ‘Termination Request’.

The email from the church’s then-executive director of people, culture and learning,  Grant Weaver, said enrollments were down at the centre and suggested a restructure that would remove Griffith’s role. 

The general secretary replied ‘go ahead’ and Mr Weaver then informed Ms Borucki and another manager over email the redundancy was ‘approved’. 

Yolanda Borucki (pictured) was the manager at the Uniting Church daycare. She informed Griffith his position had been made redundant in March 2022 

In August 2022 Griffith was arrested and charged with two counts of making child exploitation material and one count of using a carriage service for child pornography material.

Following a seizure of his electronic equipment, he was then hit with hundreds of charges allegedly committed against 91 children. 

Queensland’s Police Minister Mark Ryan has now ordered a new internal investigation into how the earlier allegations were first handled.

QPS investigated the October 2021 complaint and another in April 2022 but found there was insufficient evidence to establish a criminal offence.

In a statement, QPS confirmed both were subject to an ‘internal review’ 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,’ a spokeswoman said.

‘Once further information and evidence was identified as part of the Australian Federal Police’s (AFP) Operation Tenterfield, the AFP executed a search warrant at the man’s residence in August 2022.’

He was committed to the District Court earlier in 2024 on a heavily reduced indictment of 320 charges.

The families of victims attended Brisbane District Court (pictured) this month for the hearing

Griffith pleaded guilty to 307 charges which includes 190 counts of indecent treatment of children, 67 counts of making child exploitation material and 28 counts of rape.

There are also 15 counts of maintaining an unlawful relationship with a child, four counts of producing child exploitation material, one count of distributing child exploitation material, one count of possessing child exploitation material and one count of using a carriage service to access child pornography material.

The charges cover offending in childcare centres across the Brisbane region as well as in Pisa, Italy.

When the matters are finalised he is set to front a NSW court on another string of charges connected to alleged offending in that state.

Griffith is alleged to have recorded his abuse of children – all of them allegedly pre-pubescent girls – working at 10 childcare centres in Brisbane between 2007 to 2013 and 2018 to 2022.

Police allege further offences took place at a location in Europe between 2013 and 2014 and in a Sydney centre between 2014 and 2017.

Griffith has worked at other daycare centres but is not alleged to have offended while working there.