A mother who performed her own detective work is appealing for parents to be given more information about childcare abuse allegations as a police investigation continues.
Her plea was made outside Sydney’s Parramatta Local Court following a brief hearing for a childcare worker charged with creating and transmitting child abuse material.
The man in his 30s, who cannot be named due to a court order, was charged in July after police seized about 1.4 million files from electronic devices at his home.
After Friday’s hearing, the mother, who also cannot be named, told reporters she did her own investigation into the case after finding out her children may have been in contact with the accused at a centre.
“Disgust, anger, grief, everything,” the woman said when asked for her feelings outside court.
“There’s lots and lots of people who are blindsided by this person.”
A lack of communication between investigators and parents was also called out, with the mother calling for clarity from the Australian Federal Police.
“We’ve contacted the AFP and had absolutely no information come back from them about the access that he’s had to our children,” she said.
The AFP said it was preparing a response.
The case comes as the childcare centre undergoes a national reckoning over widespread allegations of abuse and neglect.
The AFP also delayed revealing the identity of alleged Victorian offender Joshua Dale Brown, who was charged with sexually abusing eight children under the age of two.
The mother was able to use her own investigative skills to identify the case listing and be present in court on Friday despite the man’s identity and his prior places of employment being suppressed.
“We were hoping that the suppression order would have lifted so we could get some more clarity and information as to who’s been affected,” she said.
More than 550,000 unique images were identified on the devices of the man when his house was searched in June, federal police said on Thursday.
“The number of files does not provide any indication of the scale of the alleged offending,” Detective Superintendent Luke Needham said in a statement.
“Rather, this indicates the volume of work required by investigators from the AFP’s Victim Identification Team.”
The man, who is in custody, is facing seven counts of using a child to make abusive material and an eighth charge relates to the transmission of child abuse material.
A federal prosecutor told the court on Friday it was “a large brief” of evidence.
The man’s case will return to court on November 21.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
