Yolanda Borucki worked at Uniting Church childcare centre with Ashley Paul Griffith, who was abusing children there. She reported him to their employer and the police, but they rejected her allegations. After she exposed what he was doing by sending herself documents that incriminated him, authorities were forced to act: she was charged with hacking. Though Griffith was ultimately convicted on 307 counts after pleading guilty, making him Australia's most prolific convicted child sex abuser, Borucki had to endure a trial and was today acquitted by magistrates in Brisbane.
Outside court, her lawyer Ron Behlau said his client was relieved by the decision, but that the case should never have been brought "let alone pursued so vigorously by the church and the police".
"Her actions were heroic," he said.
"She has suffered immeasurably through the prosecution process, and is now obviously very relieved. She looks forward to any inquiry conducted by the authorities to shed light on how Australia's worst paedophile was permitted to work with children for such a long period and into those who enabled this to occur."
The prosecutor claimed that she caused psychological harm to the victims. Why were they more eager to pursue her than Griffith? Perhaps because she took the state's business for herself. Perhaps because her actions exposed their ineptitude and indifference. Australia is notorious for its lack of whistleblower protections—it even passed a whistleblower law that no-one has ever successfully invoked, effectively facilitating prosecutions of people such as Borucki.
It seems she was only acquitted because she was smart enough to shut her mouth once she was in trouble, too. They were unable to prove she had sent the emails to herself, and unable to prove she did not have permission to receive the information.
O'Callaghan said that, unlike in another case involving police, her computer did not contain obvious warnings about sharing private information. She also dismissed a prosecution argument that a handbook issued to Borucki prohibited doing so, partly because there was no evidence it had been brought to her attention.
A closer look at the Uniting Church in Australia might be called for. Who might credibly do it, though, given the prerogatives in play?
"The Uniting Church notified relevant authorities and regulators of a privacy data breach which resulted in the Queensland Police Service bringing the charge against the individual in question," the spokesperson said.
