Raymond Pethybridge: Salvation Army chaplain bailed

A great-grandfather jailed for 10 years for several sickening child sex offences while working for the Salvation Army has been released on bail as he  prepares to appeal his sentence.

A Salvation Army chaplain convicted of child sex abuse will fight his sentence and conviction in the Supreme Court.

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UPDATE

A convicted paedophile has been granted bail as he prepares to appeal his decade long sentence in the Supreme Court.

Raymond Maurice Pethybridge was granted bail in the Sydney District Court on Tuesday (March 30) to go and live at an address in Wentworth Point.

The formerly high ranking Salvation Army chaplain was 88-years-old when he was convicted of multiple historic child sex offences in September 2018.

Judge Dina Yehia granted the great grandfather bail after the Crown indicated they would not contest his release.

His lawyer said her client did not need to be called to appear before the court via videolink from prison.

“There’s no objection to him not being available. He wouldn’t be able to hear in any event,” she said.

Judge Yehia granted the bail and set down Pethybridge’s next court date for May 21 where it would be determined whether he was fit to front court.

“I confirm the date of the fitness hearing,” Judge Yehia said.

“And I note there is no objection to the release application.”

Pethybridge’s bail conditions include reporting to the police station every Monday, not entering an international airport and refraining from contacting any prosecution witness or complainant.

EARLIER 

JAILED SALVOS SEX PREDATOR TO APPEAL CONVICTION

BY ELIZA BARR ON JANUARY 30, 2020

An elderly serial sex predator and once-revered Salvation Army chaplain sentenced to a decade behind bars for sickening child abuse offences will take his fight for freedom to the Supreme Court.

Ray Pethybridge, 88, shouted “lies, it’s all lies” from the witness box as NSW District Court Judge David Frearson sent him to prison for at least 10 years when he was convicted of 18 historic sexual offences in September 2018.

At the trial, the court heard Pethybridge relentlessly preyed upon girls who were aged between five and 10 years old for more than 30 years in an appalling abuse of his position as a chaplain at the Salvation Army.

The court also heard the victims were aged between four and 11, and were assaulted in swimming pools, cars, their own rooms and during a Salvation Army prayer meeting.

The elderly man, who is now a great-grandfather, has always maintained his innocence and has secured a hearing at the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney to appeal his conviction and sentence on July 3.

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News Corp Australia reported in 2018 that Judge David Frearson had described Pethybridge’s lack of remorse or accountability as “remarkable’.

“One can see quite clearly (the victims’) lives were devastated by what happened to them,” Judge Frearson said.

Pethybridge first received a letter from the Salvation Army in 2006 informing him a young woman had provided a written statement detailing her allegations against him.

He was then temporarily forbidden from representing the Salvation Army and the case against him featured in the Child Abuse Royal Commission conducted from 2013 to 2017.

Pethybridge’s extended family remains significantly involved in the Salvation Army, including his son Lieutenant Colonel Kelvin Pethybridge and his wife Cheralynne.

Kelvin and Cheralynne Pethybridge are now based in Chisinau – the capital of Moldova – where they serve as Salvation Army leaders for the church’s Eastern Europe Territory, incorporating Moldova, Romania, Georgia and Ukraine.

Lieutenant Colonel Pethybridge was previously the chief secretary-in-charge of the Salvation Army across NSW, Queensland and the ACT.