Australian accused of sexual abuse of 91 girls

SYDNEY — An Australian childcare worker sexually abused 91 young girls for 15 years, police said on Tuesday, accusing him of documenting his "unfathomable" alleged crimes in thousands of photos and videos.

"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 said, calling it "beyond the realms of anyone's imagination".

Included within the 1,623 charges are 136 counts of rape, 110 counts of sexual intercourse with a child younger than 10 — a charge used instead of rape in some Australian jurisdictions — and 613 counts of making child pornography.

Investigators had been hunting for the 45-year-old man since discovering a cache of child pornography shared on the dark web in 2014.

However, their efforts had been mostly fruitless until they made an unexpected breakthrough in August last year, matching visual clues in the background of the images to a childcare center in the city of Brisbane.

Police arrested the offender in Brisbane's southwestern suburbs and seized electronic devices that contained child abuse material created by him.

'Heinous' crimes

While the man was initially charged with just three offenses, the gravity of his alleged "heinous" crimes emerged as police further sifted through his computer, phone and hard drive, said Justine Gough, federal police assistant commissioner.

"This is chilling and shocking news for parents," she said.

The suspect allegedly recorded the acts on his phone and cameras, Gough said. Police believe that all the children involved have been identified and their parents have been informed of the investigation, she said.

The abuse happened at 10 different childcare centers between 2007 and 2022, and exclusively targeted "prepubescent girls", some as young as 1 year old, police said.

The federal police and other agencies were providing continuing support to parents and children, Gough said.

"This is a distressing time for families, carers and the community broadly."

The man, who has not been named by police, is scheduled to face court in Queensland on Aug 21.

Once those proceedings are finished, he will be extradited to New South Wales to face further charges.

Agencies - Xinhua