Cardinal Pell returns to court to fight sexual offence charges
5 March 2018
Cardinal George Pell has returned to an Australian court for a hearing that will determine whether he stands trial on sexual assault charges.

The Catholic cleric, 76, has strongly denied what police have described as historical accusations by "multiple complainants" in the state of Victoria.

He will plead not guilty to all charges, his lawyer said last year.

The court hearing in Melbourne is expected to run for a month. Much of it will be closed to the public and media. As many as 50 witnesses are expected to testify in closed sessions for up to two weeks. The committal hearing is likely to run for four weeks in total, local media said.

The first witnesses were expected to give testimony via video link late on Monday.

At the end of committal hearing, Magistrate Belinda Wallington will decide whether there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to a trial in the County Court of Victoria.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43281940

Cardinal George Pell to face trial on sex abuse charges
1 May 2018
Australian court rules that top-ranking Vatican cardinal must stand trial on historical sexual offence charges.

Cardinal George Pell, a former top adviser to Pope Francis, has been ordered by a court in Australia to stand trial for several historical sexual abuse charges.

The 76-year-old, the Vatican's former finance chief, is the most senior Catholic cleric to be sent to trial for sex offences.

After a month of preliminary hearings in Melbourne, Magistrate Belinda Wallington said on Tuesday she was "satisfied" that there was enough evidence in "multiple" charges against Pell to stand trial by jury.

When asked his plea, Pell shouted, "Not guilty." He has steadfastly maintained innocence ever since being charged in June last year.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/ ... 06563.html

Australian Cardinal falls silently on child sex charge
Cardinal George Pell, one of Pope Francis' closest advisors, has been convicted of abusing two choir boys in the 1990s but the Australian media has been banned from reporting it
By Lachlan Colquhoun Sydney, December 14, 2018 12:39 PM (UTC+8)
A guilty verdict in the sexual abuse trial of Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, is one of the country’s most sensational news stories of 2018, but Australian media is unable to report it.

Cardinal Pell, who has also been one of the closest advisers to Pope Francis as his de facto finance chief, was this week found guilty by unanimous jury verdict in a Melbourne Court of five charges of sexually abusing two choir boys in the 1990s.

He is due to be sentenced in February, but can also be expected to appeal.

It was the second trial on the charges after an earlier jury was unable to reach a decision, and after a number of other charges were struck down because of doubts on the credibility of witnesses.

Australian media, however, have been unable to report on either the trial or the verdict since the County Court in Melbourne slapped a suppression order on the court proceedings in June.

All Australian media has been able to report this week is the news that Pell has been removed from a senior council of advisers picked by Pope Francis to guide him on the future of the Church. The trial has attracted intense scrutiny in Australia because of Pell’s high profile as a former Archbishop of both Sydney and Melbourne.

The charges against him came after a series of reports by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2017, where reporters had been contacted by people making allegations against Pell. Earlier this year, then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made a public apology to sexual abuse victims in the Federal Parliament.
http://www.atimes.com/article/australia ... ex-charge/

The word is George Pell will walk free ... but first the high court must have its say
David Marr
On Wednesday the court sits to decide Pell’s fate. Legal argument will be dense, but watchers of the case think he may yet be acquitted
Mon 9 Mar 2020 16.30 GMT
Last modified on Mon 9 Mar 2020 23.04 GMT

The word around the bars is: George Pell will walk free. These barristers don’t have a heads up. They’re only talking among themselves. But those who have followed this prosecution as it has made its slow and dramatic way to the high court must face the possibility that the cardinal is about to be acquitted.

Historic child sex assaults make difficult cases. The facts are frequently bizarre. So often there is no corroborating evidence and the word of the accuser is simply pitted against the denials of the accused. These trials test the criminal law.

But Pell’s accuser was undoubtedly convincing. We will never know everything he had to say about events at St Patrick’s Cathedral in late 1996 and early 1997 – he gave all his evidence in camera – but we do know that after convincing the police and prosecution authorities in Victoria, he convinced a jury and then two out of three judges of the court of appeal that Pell raped him.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... high-court

George Pell: Court to rule on cardinal's final bid to quash sex abuse verdict
48 minutes ago

Australia's top court is set to rule on Cardinal George Pell's final appeal to overturn his conviction for child sexual abuse.

The ex-Vatican treasurer is serving a six-year jail sentence after a jury found he abused two boys in a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s.

Pell is the most senior Catholic priest ever to be found guilty of such crimes.

He has challenged the verdict at the High Court, arguing that the jury did not properly consider all evidence.

On Tuesday, the court will hand down its judgement in the case and is likely to determine whether Pell serves the remainder of his sentence or walks free.

It represents the 78-year-old's last avenue of appeal, after a lower court rejected his first attempt to quash the verdict last year.

Pell has maintained his innocence since he was charged by police in June 2017.

His conviction has rocked the Catholic Church, where he had been one of the Pope's most senior advisers.
What was the original guilty finding?

In December 2018, a jury unanimously found Pell guilty of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choir boys in private rooms in St Patrick's Cathedral. Pell was serving as the archbishop of Melbourne at the time.

The convictions included one count of sexual penetration and four counts of committing indecent acts.

Pell's trial heard testimony from the only surviving victim. The abuse was not witnessed by anyone else, but the trial also heard evidence from dozens of churchgoers.
Full article:

The ways it could go:
- Special leave to appeal is rejected and Pell remains in prison.
- Special leave to appeal is granted, but the appeal dismissed, leaving Pell in prison.
- Special leave to appeal is granted, and the appeal allowed, resulting in Pell's immediate release.
- Special leave to appeal is granted and the appeal is remitted back to the Court of Appeal to be re-examined by three new judges. In this case, Pell could apply for bail.

I can not overstate the impact that this decision will have for all of us survivors.
Right or wrong. this man is a symbol of all those that got away with it - and a the powerful institutions that protected them.

****!!
Appeal successful.
Not guilty.

So, miracles do not happen after all
we always knew it was too good to be true.
(- the guilty verdict by the jury
and the first appeal, guilty by majority of judges in the Court of Appeal)

These guys are untouchable - always was and forever will be...
****'s