In 2014, a series of child abuse images and videos posted on the dark web gained the attention of Queensland police.
It took 12 years, but the ensuing investigation led to the unmasking of a childcare worker as being allegedly one of the worst child sex offenders in Australian history.
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Questions remain over how the 45-year-old man was allegedly able to victimise 91 children in Brisbane, Sydney and overseas between 2007 and 2022, leading to 1623 charges against him.
But there is no doubt the investigation to uncover the full extent of his alleged offending was painstaking and harrowing work.
The Queensland officers involved in the original investigation were unable to determine the origin of the child abuse images and video.
“Queensland Police Service posted them on an international victim identification database, seeking assistance from the global victim identification community,” said Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough.
“The AFP and other agencies examined the images, but they contained few distinguishable clues for investigators to follow.”
It wasn’t until August 2022 when the AFP “was able to trace objects identified in the background of the alleged images and videos posted on the dark web between 2013 and 2014 to a Brisbane childcare centre”, Gough said.
Multiple raids
An investigation into the centre led to a raid and arrest of the man in Brisbane’s southwest on August 20, 2022.
He was initially charged with two counts of making child exploitation material and one count of using a carriage service for child exploitation material.
Two more locations were raided, including the man’s Gold Coast home.
His electronic devices were allegedly found to have more than 4000 child abuse images and video on them.
The man has been accused of raping and sexually assaulting little girls at childcare centres at which he worked to create child abuse material.
He faces 136 charges of rape and 604 counts of indecent treatment of a child in Queensland, as well as 110 counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10 in NSW.
He has also been charged with 613 counts of making child exploitation material, among other charges related to his alleged offending in Queensland, NSW and overseas.
The discovery of the material sparked the AFP to set up Operation Tenterfield, a taskforce aimed in part at identifying victims.
“We have been working tirelessly since August last year to identify the children in the alleged child abuse material,” Gough said.
“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.
“While I am extremely proud of law enforcement’s persistence and their unwavering dedication to identify this alleged offender, and stop further abuse, this is chilling news.
“There is not much solace I can give parents and children who have been identified under Operation Tenterfield, but I can tell you that we never gave up, and we never will when it comes to protecting children.”
Questions unanswered
It has also been revealed the man had been investigated in the years before his arrest, but there was not enough evidence to charge him.
“The 45-year-old man was subject to two reports in Queensland — one in 2021 and another in 2022,” Queensland Acting Assistant Commissioner Col Briggs said.
“Both reports were subject to investigation, however there was insufficient evidence to take action against any person on the evidence available to investigators at that time.”
Law enforcement officials have declined to reveal how the man was able to be in a position to allegedly abuse so many children.
But Gough said the man “had all the qualifications required to work in childcare centres” in Queensland and NSW.
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