{"id":1515,"date":"2025-12-08T01:30:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T01:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=1515"},"modified":"2025-12-08T01:30:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T01:30:48","slug":"notorious-childcare-paedophile-ashley-paul-griffith-could-have-been-stopped-five-times-during-decades-of-offending-queensland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=1515","title":{"rendered":"Notorious childcare paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith \u2018could have been stopped\u2019 five times during decades of offending | Queensland"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Notorious serial paedophile Ashley Paul Griffith \u201ccould have been stopped, and should have been stopped\u201d, Queensland\u2019s attorney general has said, after the state released a landmark report into the catastrophic system failures that enabled the abuse.<\/p>\n

Griffith was sentenced to life in prison for 307 sexual offences<\/a> against 73 victims, mostly young girls aged between three and five. Most of the offending occurred while he was employed at childcare centres in Queensland between 2003 and 2022.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Queensland Child Death Review Board released a report<\/a> into systemic failures in the case. The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, told reporters the conclusions would \u201csend a shiver up the spine of every Queensland parent\u201d.<\/p>\n

The attorney general, Deb Frecklington, said the report found that across 20 years of Griffith\u2019s offending, there had been 18 points where the offending could have been detected or disrupted earlier, including five \u201cmissed opportunities\u201d where action could have been taken to detect or stop him.<\/p>\n

There were another 13 events that enabled him to continue to offend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis offender could have been stopped, and should have been stopped,\u201d Frecklington said.<\/p>\n

In a letter to victims, the chair of the board, Luke Twyford, said he had \u201ccome to understand the depth of the betrayal that you and your families have endured: the deception, the silence, the failure of people and systems that should have protected you\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have reviewed the records, met with victim-survivors and parents, attended the places where abuse occurred, and witnessed the weight of harm that has been caused and carried for too long,\u201d Twyford said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou deserved care, protection and honesty. Instead, you were met with betrayal and harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Crisafulli announced at a press conference on Monday his government would fast-track a reportable conduct scheme. Queensland is one of the last jurisdictions to implement such a scheme, as recommended by the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

The review described such a scheme as a \u201cmissing piece\u201d that could have identified Griffith\u2019s offending earlier.<\/p>\n

Crisafulli said the report \u201cmakes for harrowing and disturbing reading\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is essential that we [fast-track the reportable conduct scheme], it is essential that we give every chance for our institutions to keep our children safe,\u201d Crisafulli said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be pulling that forward 12 months, in a bid to make sure we can have a reportable conduct scheme that does what is the job of any good government, and that is to keep our kids safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo system will ever be bullet-proof, but we can do so much better, and so much better we will do. To the victims and their families, I express our complete and utter sympathy and sorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380.<\/em><\/p>\n