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A former Brisbane childcare worker acquitted by a jury of sexually abusing children had additional charges against him dropped in the months before he went to trial, it can now be revealed.
Joshua James Capps had been accused of sexually abusing children while he worked at a C&K childcare centre in Brisbane’s north in 2023.
But in April, he was found not guilty by a jury of rape, and three counts of indecent treatment.
Capps, it can now be revealed, was facing an additional three charges, unrelated to his time at the centre, which were dropped by the prosecution in August last year.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said three charges – one count of involving a child in making child exploitation material and two counts of possession of child exploitation material – were dropped against Capps.
“After careful consideration of all admissible evidence, the ODPP did not proceed in relation to the above three offences,” the statement read.
Prosecutors pushed forward with the other charges that proceeded to trial in April this year, and Capps now has no other charges against his name.
In Capps’ trial earlier this year, his defence barrister Jack Kennedy mounted a case on prejudice against male childcare workers, with Capps denying the allegations.
The jury heard a mother of one of the alleged victims, a three-year-old boy, told the trial she had walked in on Capps crouching in front of another child and their tongues were poking out, touching each other.
The trial heard Capps had played a game called “doctors” with several children.
In defending Capps, Kennedy told the jury at the time that the consequences of the allegations could be drastic.
“Repercussions can be severe. This, in many respects, is not dissimilar to witch trials seen in the past, where you get panic. People believe they see things. They become sure they saw things, allegations made, and then somebody’s gone to trial,” he said.
Kennedy told the jury in his closing submissions that while the world was acutely aware of sexual offending, this was not the case for his client, who was not guilty of the charges.
He said Capps had chosen to given evidence, and expose himself to cross-examination.
“He could’ve sat in the dock and said nothing, but he chose to take the stand,” Kennedy said.
When Capps was asked on the stand how he responded when the allegations were first revealed to him, Capps explained he was reassured by the fact there were cameras around the centre. He said this was “because there would be footage of what happened to show I’d be exonerated”.
Capps was ultimately found not guilty, and discharged on all counts.
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Cloe Read is the crime and court reporter at Brisbane Times.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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