ASHLEY PAUL GRIFFITH ENTERS NEW SOUTH WALES CUSTODY FOR TRIAL

Ashley Paul Griffith was extradited from Queensland to New South Wales on 28 October to face 202 charges involving children. Queensland corrective services minister Laura Gerber said authorities transferred him shortly after 6.30am and crossed the state border shortly after 8am. New South Wales authorities then took custody of the former childcare worker. The charges include sexual intercourse with a child under 10, indecent assault of a person under 16 and producing child abuse material. Griffith is expected to stand trial on the New South Wales charges.

Griffith is serving a life sentence in Queensland after admitting offences against 69 girls at early learning centres in Brisbane and Italy. Those offences took place over two decades. At his sentencing in 2024, a judge ordered him to serve 27 years before he could become eligible for parole. That period was almost twice Queensland’s statutory minimum sentence. Griffith appealed on the grounds that the sentence was manifestly excessive, but lost the appeal in June.

Queensland Corrective Services said Griffith would remain in New South Wales until his trial concludes. It said he would then serve his prison term in whichever state imposed the harsher sentence. Gerber said the transfer would allow those affected by the New South Wales charges to seek justice there. “I hope he hit every pothole on the way,” she said of his journey.