AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites
By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 10 April 2015)
Marist Brother Peter Pemble (aged 67), who has been a school principal in Sydney and elsewhere, is scheduled to appear in the Newcastle District Court on 13 April 2015 for sentencing (case number 2014/00238932). Brother Pemble has admitted that he molested a schoolboy while working at a Catholic boys’ school in New South Wales early in his career, more than 40 years ago. The incident occurred at Maitland (in the Hunter region, north of Sydney) in 1971-1972, when Brother Pemble was in his twenties. Later in his career, Brother Peter Pemble became the principal of several Catholic schools in Sydney.
Peter William Pemble entered his guilty plea on 3 December 2014 in the Newcastle Local Court, where the case was heard by a magistrate. The plea relates to one count of indecent assault. Two other incidents will be taken into account when Pemble is sentenced at a later date.
The case then moved to a higher court, the Newcastle District Court, for sentencing by a judge.
According to court documents, Brother Peter William Pemble was born on 6 April 1948.
Court documents stated that, at Marist Brothers High School at Maitland in 1971, Brother Pemble cultivated a relationship with this junior student. Pemble committed the indecent assault in an empty room at the school.
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