Accused Melbourne childcare worker charged with more child rape offences

A former Melbourne childcare worker facing more than 70 child abuse offences has been charged with another 83 alleged crimes including six counts of child rape.

Joshua Dale Brown, 27, was arrested in May with police alleging he abused eight children – including a five-month-old – between April 2022 and January 2023.

The case prompted authorities in July to urge about 2,000 children across more than 20 centres where Mr Brown had worked to undergo testing for infectious diseases.

On Thursday, police said the new charges relate to alleged offences against four new victims between 2019 and February this year at three centres as well as extra offences against the initial eight children.

The families of the four new victims have been notified, police said, and the new charges do not involve any new childcare centres so health authorities are not recommending any further testing for infectious diseases.

The new charges include allegations of child rape, attempted child rape, producing and sharing child abuse material and child sexual assault.

Mr Brown also faces 12 counts of bestiality which police said was part of a separate investigation and not related to any childcare centres.

He remains in custody and is due to face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in February next year.

The case, alongside several other high-profile cases of sexual and physical abuse at childcare centres, has sparked widespread panic across Australia with parents, carers and experts concerned about the childcare industry’s safety standards.

In response, the federal government gave itself greater powers to strip funding from childcare providers that breach quality and safety standards.

Authorities also rushed in a suite of “tougher child safety rules” through parliament including new regulation on checks for people who work with children.

But experts say greater reform, including a national register for workers, is needed.

The case also prompted G8 Education – one of Australia’s largest private childcare centre operators and which owned the centre where Mr Brown worked – to speed up the installation of CCTV at its 400-plus centres.

It also introduced so-called “intimate care waivers”, giving parents and carers the option to choose who carried out private and sensitive duties.