Parents furious at weak sentence for childcare worker who abused their daughter

Parents of a four-year-old girl who was sexually abused by a paedophile childcare worker in Queensland have spoken out in anger after he was jailed for less than a year.

Fijian Indian immigrant Arvind Ajay Singh, 43, was acquitted of rape in by a Maroochydore District Court jury last week but found guilty of indecent treatment of a child in his care and given a 20-month sentence to be suspended after 10 months. He will then be deported to Fiji.

But his victim’s parents said they were furious about the light sentence, which came after Singh was allowed to leave Australia due to a bureaucratic bungle before even facing trial, forcing them to wait four years for justice.

“Absolutely devastated. I’d get lower if I didn’t pay my taxes,” the father told A Current Affair when asked about judge’s decision.

“And what they put our daughter through was just absolutely disgusting.”

“The system failed us. They failed our daughter,” the mother said.

“We had to fight for our daughter to get her justice and we had to fight to get him off the streets so that he could no longer work with children again.”

Singh was charged with rape in 2022, but remanded in custody, but was then granted bail in April 2023 and surrendered his passport after being committed to stand trial on the Sunshine Coast.

But after a series of court delays Singh was located by the Australian Border Force in May 2025 and placed in immigration detention in a 5-star Brisbane CBD serviced apartment due to being an “illegal non-citizen”, and was then allowed to fly back to Fiji voluntarily in July.

He then returned voluntarily to stand trial in February after the case drew widespread attention and led to Border Force officials being grilled in the Senate and the Department of Home Affairs and Queensland Police both blaming each other for the bungle.

Singh’s mother was also able to visit him in his detention apartment, and posted photos on social media of the CBD view and her son riding an exercise bike, raising questions about ABF usage of hotels and serviced apartment for immigration detention.

In court the victim’s mother read an joint impact statement written by both parents where they said their daughter was traumatised, that they lived in a constant state of fear, and that the legal process had torn open their wounds.

“We placed trust in a childcare centre that promised protection, but trust was broken,” the statement read.

“What should have been a safe and nurturing place became the setting of a profound betrayal.”

The parents also revealed Singh was once their daughter’s favourite childcare teacher, but she now asks if he has been put in jail.

In sentencing Judge Glen Cash acknowledged the trauma caused by Singh’s offending, which he called “brazen”, a “betrayal of trust” and a “very serious example of the charge”.

But he also noted Singh’s family had “effectively disowned him alongside the time he spent in immigration detention and his deportation”.

Header image: Left, Arvind Ajay Singh. Right, Singh outside court (A Current Affair).

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