Sydney after school care worker charged with child abuse offences

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A warning this next story contains distressing details. A Sydney out-of-school-hours care worker has been charged with more than a dozen offence accused of producing child abuse material through his employment. The 26-year-old man who has been in custody since October worked at dozens of centres between 2018 and 2024.

Transcript

00:00This investigation began back in June last year, and authorities were made aware of child

00:06abuse material on the dark web.

00:09They say they worked out who was allegedly responsible for that.

00:12And Ataman man, David James, who's a 26-year-old man, also a former New South Wales police

00:17employee who failed to complete his probation, was initially charged last year with refusing

00:23police access to his electronic devices, but eventually a digital forensics expert cracked

00:28into those devices, and now he's been charged with 13 offences.

00:33And the AFP is alleging that he took explicit photos of 10 children who are aged 5 or 6 over

00:39a three-year period, 2021 to 2024.

00:43His charges include nine counts of the aggravated use of a child to make child abuse material,

00:49which carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in jail, and also two counts of possessing

00:54child abuse material.

00:56So Federal Police have been speaking about this today, and they say they've had to analyse

01:00142,000 files, 19 gigabytes worth of material from this man's collection of devices.

01:07Not all of that, they say, was child abuse material.

01:10And today they've published a list of nearly 60 facilities around Sydney's northern suburbs

01:16and the CBD areas where they say he worked.

01:20Although they say that the alleged offending took place at six of those centres.

01:25And they say all parents, carers and operators from the six centres have already been contacted.

01:30So basically, AFP is now saying, if you have not heard from us, then there is no evidence

01:35that that centre is involved in this case.

01:39They say that if parents or guardians have any questions, they need to head to a special

01:43website they've set up, which has a list of the centres and also some support services.

01:49So let's have a listen to the AFP's Acting Assistant Commissioner, Brett James, talking

01:53about this website they've set up.

01:55On this website, and I'll give you the website's name, it's www.afp.gov.au forward slash oparctile

02:06and I'll spell that O-P-A-R-C-T-I-L-E.

02:12You will find the following.

02:14Tips on how to approach and talk to your child.

02:17That's a very important part, very important for parents to remember.

02:21A list of centres impacted.

02:23Dates the man worked at those centres.

02:26What support services are available to you and your children.

02:31And relevant contact and reporting details if you think you need them.

02:35And Jamie, this man's identity had been suppressed until today.

02:40What changed?

02:41Yeah, so the court orders which suppressed his identity were made last year while the investigation

02:46was in the phases of identifying what families might have been involved.

02:51And his case was mentioned in court today and the orders were due to expire tonight because

02:56police believe that process has now run its course.

02:59However, today in court I heard his lawyer get up and ask for an extension of the suppression.

03:05And they were arguing that there is a safety concern for him in custody due to the nature of the charges.

03:11And that lawyer wanted the suppressions extended.

03:14That was opposed by a lawyer who was representing the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

03:18And ultimately Deputy Chief Magistrate Michael Antrim ruled to revoke the orders immediately.

03:24In doing that he said the defendant's safety is a matter for New South Wales Corrective Services.

03:29That this is not the only person who is facing charges of this nature who is in custody.

03:34And the Magistrate also said there is no evidence as it stands today about the suggested risk to his safety.

03:41So the order was lifted which allows us to report the allegations more fully and the AFP to talk about their investigation.

03:48His court case though will return to court in three weeks.

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