A Melbourne father who had concerns about an accused paedophile childcare worker has admitted he didn’t say anything because he feared being labelled “homophobic”.
Joshua Dale Brown, 26, a homosexual from Point Cook, was charged with more than 70 child sex offences this week including contaminating food with his bodily fluids, prompting authorities to urge the parents of 1,200 children to get them tested for gonorrhoea, chlamydia and syphilis.
Brown’s charges related to his time working at the Creative Garden Early Learning Centre in his home suburb, and one father whose two-year-old son was looked after by the alleged child rapist in 2022 said he found him “weird and creepy” due to his inappropriate clothing.
“I would try and interact with Josh when I dropped my son off and chat, and he would always turn his head and never look me in the eye. It was strange,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“He acted shady, would look away or at the floor, and my son never wanted to go to him, but he would run to the other educators. I spoke to my wife about it and said ‘something is not right here’.
“But I was worried if I followed up, I’d be ‘that guy’ and labelled homophobic, which I’m not. I had no proof and what could I say? ‘He wears skin-tight skinny jeans and leather boots with one-inch heels and looks like he is going clubbing, not to work?’ I didn’t want to be that person.”
The father confirmed he was among the hundreds of families who received text messages notifying them about the charges against Brown, which include sexual penetration of a child under 12, sexual assault, sexual activity in the presence of child, produce child abuse material for use through a carriage service, and possess child abuse material.
Brown, whose alleged victims are aged between five months and two years old, appeared with pink and blue dyed hair in a Facebook photo with his boyfriend during the same time period he worked at the Point Cook centre, had no criminal record, and had a valid Working With Children Check that has since been cancelled.
Victoria Police said on Tuesday they were now investigating whether there were more victims, as Brown had worked at 20 childcare centres around Melbourne between January 2017 and May 2025, and are examining evidence of an allegation at a second centre in Essendon.
The alleged child sex predator appeared in a photo at that centre shared on its Facebook page on March 21 for “Harmony Day” with the caption “Today we recognise Australia’s cultural diversity”.
The alleged paedophile first appeared in court in May but a suppression order issued by Magistrate Michael White and applied for by police and the Office of Public Prosecutions meant the case could not be make public at the time.
But as the investigation developed in scale and the need to notify more than 2,600 families as a precaution became apparent, the suppression order was revoked and police announced the charges, and made the unusual decision to release the alleged child rapist’s name.
The announcement of the charges shocked Australia, prompting thousands of people to call for the government to reinstate the death penalty for convicted paedophiles, ban men from working in childcare centres, or shut down the abuse-plagued industry entirely.
Header image: Left, right, Joshua Dale Brown (supplied).
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