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Former Anglican priest Raymond Cheek convicted of child sex abuse
By Laura Gartry
A former Anglican priest has been found guilty of sexually abusing five boys over a 30-year period in Western Australia's south. Raymond Sydney Cheek was found guilty of committing an act of gross indecency and two counts each of indecent assault and indecent dealings with a child between 1955 and 1985. District Court judge Ronald Birmingham said Cheek "had a position of trust and was a respected member of the church … the impact on the victim was significant." Abuse survivors and their supporters wept as the jury read out the verdicts. "The prospects of avoiding immediate imprisonment are remote," Justice Birmingham told Cheek. Cheek was granted bail with strict conditions and will be sentenced in February next year. 'He is evil, just evil'A relative of Cheek's who did not wish to be named was in court to support the victims.
"They've got justice. All we ever wanted was justice. He just shouldn't have been let out on bail. "He is evil, just evil. Listening to some of things of things he did to those boys was terrible. "The church's response wasn't good enough at the time, but it has improved in time as it has with been proven with this case." Offences spread across state's southCheek's first offence was in 1955 in the Perth suburb of Wembley when he molested an 11-year-old boy when we was a scout leader. He then moved to Albany where he indecently dealt with an alter boy in the 1960s. Cheek worked all around the South West including Lake Grace, Margaret River, Pingelly and Bunbury before he abused two boys in Raventhorpe in 1975 and 1976. His final victim was a boy in Williams in 1985 who was staying at his house. He then spent a decade as the priest in charge at an Anglican church in Como from 1991 to 2002. He was stripped of his holy orders in 2014.
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