Donald Greenaway: Paedophile scripture teacher found dead in Long Bay Hospital cell
A former Hunter Valley accountant and small business owner — who sexually assaulted 21 boys over several decades — has been found dead in his cell at Long Bay Hospital.
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His horrifying crimes left permanent mental scars on his victim — but now, as part of NewsLocal’s deaths in custody investigation, it can be revealed “despicable, evil” paedophile and former volunteer scripture teacher Donald Greenaway has died in Long Bay Hospital.
In 2016, the Hunter Valley accountant and small business owner pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting 21 boys over several decades, targeting some while he volunteered as a scripture teacher at the Woodlands Children’s Home in Wallsend.
The 88-year-old — who pleaded guilty to 66 child sex charges ranging from sexual assault to aggravated indecent assault and possessing child abuse material over several decades — was “found unresponsive in his cell” at Long Bay Hospital on August 17.
A Corrective Service NSW spokeswoman confirmed Greenaway was pronounced dead at 8.34pm.
The paedophile was sentenced to 21 years behind bars in August, 2016 by Judge Roy Ellis, who told the then 84-year-old he would die in jail and “never, ever again have access to young boys”.
Greenaway applied for “special circumstances” in his sentence citing to failing health.
Victims of Greenaway, who was described as “purely evil” following the revelations of decades of abuse, said the elderly man was going to suffer in prison before his death — much like the suffering his victims continue to endure.
During his trial it was revealed the Hunter Valley businessman raped boys as young as five years old and used Sunday school classes, sporting groups and scripture teaching to gain access to boys from the 1960s onwards.
The court heard Greenaway told the boy the assaults were “our secret”, and convinced the children their parents would be angry with them if they spoke about it.
Despite Greenaway’s dying natural causes, a coronial inquest will be conducted into the paedophile’s death.
The discovery of the 88-year-old’s death in Long Bay Hospital last month comes as part of NewsLocal’s Deaths in Custody investigation, shining a spotlight on deaths in custody across the NSW prison system with 704 recorded through a 40-year inquiry by the Australian Institute of Criminology.