Sydney daycare worker facing child abuse offences identity revealed

A Sydney childcare worker who was charged with 329 offences over his alleged abuse of 136 children at multiple daycare centres across a 16-year period can now be named.

Hamish Tait was first arrested in July last year but his identity was only revealed on Monday, when a court order sought by police while they tried to identify victims and contact families was lifted.

The charges against the 35-year-old, who remains in custody, include 162 counts of producing child abuse material and 81 counts of filming a person engaged in a private act without consent.

Police said they had contacted 121 families affected by the alleged offending but are still trying to identify 22 victims.

"Any form of child sexual abuse is confronting and horrific, even more so when the alleged perpetrator is an individual trusted with the care of our youth," Australian Federal Police (AFP) Acting Commander Luke Needham said.

Tait worked at or attended 62 early childhood education facilities in Sydney between 2009 and 2025, although police say he primarily worked in the city's north-west.

The alleged offending occurred at five facilities including four childcare centres and his own private business.

Police have published a website identifying the centres where he worked and offering support for families.

The charges also include 22 counts of aggravated use of a child under 14 years for the production of child abuse material and 18 counts of intentionally sexually touching a child under 10 years.

Police said they first linked Tait to illegal online activity in June last year. They then found child abuse material on electronic devices seized during a raid on a property in Glossodia, just outside Sydney.

Australians have been shaken by a string of cases of alleged child abuse at daycare centres in recent years.

They include the case of Ashley Paul Griffith who in 2024 confessed to 307 offences committed at childcare centres in Queensland and overseas over a 20-year period.

And last year, Police urged that more than 1,200 children in Victoria be tested for sexually transmitted diseases after Joshua Dale Brown was charged with dozens of child abuse offences allegedly committed at four daycare centres.


-BBC