Accused C&K childcare rapist’s ‘brazen acts under guise of something innocuous’
As his trial ended, the prosecution told the jury that an accused rapist took advantage of being able to have close contact with children in childcare and that he did not need to take them to a secluded area because it would raise suspicions.
Joshua James Capps has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and three counts of indecent treatment of a child, which he allegedly committed while working as an educator at a C&K center north of Brisbane.
Capps took the stand Wednesday and denied all allegations against him, including raping a child and talking to children at the Geebung center in 2023.
The mother of one of the alleged victims, a three-year-old boy, told the hearing that Capps crouched down in front of another child and their tongues stuck out and touched each other. The trial heard Capps played a game called “doctors” with several children.
The prosecution alleged that Capps took advantage of the fact that it was normal for educators to have physical contact with children.
In her closing argument, Crown Prosecutor Arielle Spiteri told the jury it was plausible that Capps could have done something harmless to the children when he committed the crime.
Spiteri said Capps acknowledged in his testimony Wednesday that other educators in the area were busy.
“He admitted it, he even said ‘we don’t watch each other’. That was very openly acknowledged,” he said.
“The defense argued that it was more likely that someone would do these things somewhere other than an open field… but you would think that if Mr. Capps took a child to a secluded area he would draw attention to himself.
“So what he did, in my opinion, was he used the opportunity that was presented to him to commit these crimes, because we know that it is completely normal for educators and children to interact closely, to touch children, to be at face level.”
Spiteri reminded the jury that crimes could be committed near CCTV. An investigating officer had previously told the court that much of the footage recovered from the center was corrupted and police were unable to retrieve it. Capps told the court he paid to have some of the footage redacted because he believed it would exonerate him.
“I believe Mr. Capps committed these crimes under the guise of doing something harmless, so they would have appeared to be a normal interaction between an educator and a child,” Spiteri said.
“You may think it is incredible that someone, let alone a child care educator, would commit such brazen acts in the open, near others, but the truth is that these things really do happen in our society.
“We know that child sex offenders often act brazenly because children do not have the capacity to understand or appreciate the seriousness of the situations they may find themselves in.
“An example of this is when complaining children clearly enjoy playing games with doctors.”
Spiteri said the three-year-old’s mother had a clear memory of seeing Capps touching tongues with another child. Spiteri said the mother’s conversations with her son were the first non-directive disclosures of sexual abuse, and when she talked about being anally raped it was under circumstances in which she voluntarily submitted the information.
Spiteri said that before Capps was identified, the alleged victim demanded to read the book “My Body, My Rules” every night for about a month. Spiteri said this could be an indication that he is trying to figure out what happened to him.
He said that the child also denied that he had insulted Capps in his statement to the police.
Attorney Jack Kennedy told the jury in his closing argument that the world was acutely aware of sex crimes, but that was not the case for his client, who was not guilty of the charges.
Kennedy said his client chose to testify and subject himself to cross-examination.
“He could have sat in the box and said nothing, but he chose to take the stand,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy spoke of the three-year-old’s mother, who was loving and concerned about the male educator.
“Frankly [the alleged victim] “He’s not being honest in the things he’s saying… I’m not claiming he’s lying because the truth is he’s too young to fully understand the seriousness of the allegations he’s making,” he said.
“He read the book ‘My Body, My Rules’ with his mother… his mother watched the footage… You will never see Mr. Capps dissing any child. He is an educator, a trained educator who has stooped to the child’s level.”
He said the alleged attack occurred while several educators were wandering around the open area and manning the building’s glass doors.
Kennedy questioned how no one could see the alleged events in such a brazen place.
The trial continues.
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Cloe Read is the Brisbane Times’ crime and courts reporter.Connect with: X or email.
