WARNING: Graphics.
A convicted pedophile who terrified Sydney during a two-year crime spree in the 1990s – including sexually assaulting a young girl – is facing a state government that wants to impose a strict supervision order on him after his release Start a legal battle.
NSW has applied to the Supreme Court to try to keep tabs on notorious rapist Raymond Barry Cornwall following his release from prison last year.
Cornwall, 67, has spent most of his adult life behind bars after being convicted of a string of sex offenses dating back to 1989 and repeatedly breaching parole and supervision orders.
Supreme Court Justice Mark Ierace granted a temporary supervision order to Cornwall with a series of strict conditions, including that he must not watch pornography and wear an electronic bracelet monitor. The state also applied for a two-year order to keep tabs on him. .
Cornwall’s extensive criminal history and why authorities fear he will reoffend unless he is closely monitored is detailed in a Supreme Court judgment delivered this week.
The court heard that Cornwall was first jailed for drink driving when he was 19 and was jailed for further driving offenses in his 20s and 30s.
Then in his 30s he committed his first sex offense and pleaded guilty to a series of rapes against women during a shocking two-year spree across Sydney between 1991 and 1993.
In June 1991, he raped a woman at knifepoint when he forced her into bush near the George River and stole her handbag.
Four months later, he threatened to kill two 14-year-old girls as they walked past Western Sydney University before sexually assaulting them.
Three months later, he attempted to sexually assault a 15-year-old girl in similar circumstances when he grabbed the victim’s arm and pointed a knife at her.
She broke free and ran to safety.
He also sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl on her way to school and another 18-year-old woman, attacking her as she pushed her bicycle along the track.
He was released in December 2007 after more than 14 years in captivity.
After only 30 minutes, he took off the electronic monitoring bracelet and continued to flee.
He was seen on the beach by an off-duty officer two days later and arrested again.
Cornwall was jailed again for 15 months.
He was released again in March 2009, but just six months later he was found holding a bottle of whiskey up a tree and threatening to harm himself. was re-detained.
While in custody in Cornwall, police used emerging DNA technology to link him to the September 1989 rape of a woman in Pottsville, northern New South Wales.
He admitted engaging in non-consensual sexual intercourse and detaining others for benefit and was jailed for four and a half years.
Cornwall was released in June 2015 before being re-arrested in April 2019.
He fled police after they asked to see his phone, and a search of his device found a video of him masturbating on a train in front of a female passenger.
Cornwall was jailed for two years as police also discovered a cache of 112 child abuse images – some depicting the vile exploitation and abuse of pre-teens.
As a result, another two years and three months were added to his sentence.
He was granted conditional release in March last year to return to the community, but the order imposed strict conditions on him and was due to expire in March.
Judge Ierace said while Cornwall had been out of trouble since his most recent release, the last time he was re-detained his crimes were only discovered as a result of a supervision order.
Judge Ierace granted a 28-day interim supervision order which imposed a long list of conditions on Cornwall.
These included him wearing an electronic ankle monitor, obeying a 9pm-6am curfew, not having a passport and not leaving NSW.
Under the order, Cornish is banned from going to daycare centers and schools, amusement parks, playgrounds and any accommodation where people under the age of 18 live.
He was also banned from viewing pornographic material and ordered to undergo psychological and psychiatric evaluation and counselling.
The matter will return to court next month as the state attempts to impose a two-year control order on Cornwall.
mental health support
