When detectives discovered a cache of child abuse material allegedly in the hands of a Melbourne childcare worker, it started the clock ticking on an unprecedented response from police and public health authorities.
After raiding the home of 26-year-old Joshua Dale Brown in May, police faced the daunting and distressing task of trying to identify eight children, some as young as five months old, whom it is alleged he had abused and filmed.
They also tracked Brown’s work history, fearing the allegations against him at one centre in the city’s west may be only the tip of the iceberg. They uncovered that he had worked at 20 childcare centres across the city since 2017.
Sex crimes detectives have now focused their attention on Brown’s time at a centre in Essendon, where they are investigating whether abuse occurred, and police are urging anyone with further information to come forward.
For weeks, police and the Health Department grappled with how to reveal the horrifying allegations to the families involved, ready the health system for a large-scale child-testing regimen and reassure the wider community.
Brown’s appearance in court in May attracted no attention, though he was charged with 70 counts related to the alleged sexual abuse of minors, including sexual penetration, producing child abuse material for use through a carriage service and recklessly contaminating goods to cause alarm or anxiety. Brown had no criminal history and possessed a valid Working With Children Check.
A cone of silence soon fell around the looming scandal after magistrate Matthew White issued a blanket suppression order preventing any publication of the charges.
Victoria Police and the Office of Public Prosecutions had initially applied for the gag order to protect the integrity of the investigation, as they began the painstaking work of informing the affected families.
At this point, no one but the police and the Health Department were aware of what had allegedly taken place between April 2022 and January 2023 at the Creative Garden Early Learning Centre in Point Cook. It remains unknown when the childcare operator was notified.
But behind the scenes, as the scale of the alleged offending continued to grow – along with the need to test more than 1200 children for sexually transmitted diseases – a decision was made that the issue had become too big to contain.
Brown had tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease and police suspected he could have exposed unknown numbers of children.
Ninety minutes after the suppression order was revoked, police and the state government, including the premier, called a joint press conference to deliver the shocking news. Police also took the highly unusual step of releasing the alleged offender’s name publicly, a measure taken to ensure that other childcare workers were not unfairly suspected.
Very little is known about Brown, who was easily recognisable to parents by his distinctive arm tattoos and ginger-coloured hair, which he often dyed different colours. He lived in a rented townhouse in Point Cook with a male roommate and a cat. The home is now vacant. He had previously worked at large childcare chains G8 Education and Affinity Education and done short-stint relief work at other centres.
Last year we had Ashley Paul Griffith convicted on 307 sexual offences committed in child care centres in Queensland. If we are serious about safeguarding children we must acknowledge the very real increased risk of having male workers in early childcare. If we genuinely want to reduce the risk, we cannot leave small children alone with a male carer. Males as a group are overwhelmingly responsible for violent and sexual crime and it is impossible to detect who is a likely perpetrator based on their appearance and manner alone. Predators target the vulnerable specifically because they will be able to evade detection.This is also an issue for disability and aged care services.