Melbourne - Former Vatican treasurer
Cardinal George Pell will remain in prison for at least another
three years after losing an appeal against his conviction for
sexually abusing two 13-year-old choir boys, an Australian court
ruled on Wednesday.
Pell, the highest ranking Catholic worldwide to be convicted
of child sex offences, was sentenced in March to six years in
jail after being found guilty on five charges of abusing the two
boys at St Patrick's Cathedral while he was Archbishop of
Melbourne in the late 1990s.
Supreme Court of Victoria Chief Justice Anne Ferguson said
on Wednesday two of the three judges hearing Pell's appeal
"decided that it was open to the jury to be satisfied beyond
reasonable doubt that Cardinal Pell was guilty of the offences
charged" and rejected his appeal.
Under the terms of his sentencing, Pell will be eligible for
parole in October 2022, when he will be 81.
Pell, wearing a black suit with a priest's collar, sat
quietly in the court with no discernible expression as Ferguson
read the judgment.
The jury in his trial heard testimony from a victim who
described how Pell had exposed himself to the two boys, fondled
their genitals and masturbated, and forced one boy to perform a
sex act on him. The other victim died in 2014.
"I am grateful for a legal system that everyone can believe
in, where everybody is equal before the law and no one is above
the law," the surviving choir boy, now in his 30s, said in a
statement read out by his lawyer, Vivian Waller.
Cardinal George Pell arrives at the Supreme Court in Melbourne, Australia. Picture: Andy Brownbill/AP
"The criminal process has been stressful. The journey has
taken me to places that, in my darkest moments, I feared I could
not return from," he said in the statement.
Pell's spokeswoman, Katrina Lee, said he maintained his
innocence and his legal team was examining the judgment to
determine whether to lodge a special leave application to the
High Court of Australia to hear a final appeal. Pell has 28 days
to file the application.
"Cardinal Pell is obviously disappointed with the decision
today," Lee said.
The Vatican said it acknowledged the court's decision and
remained committed to pursuing clergy who carried out abuse.
Pell's case has attracted global attention because it
brought a growing crisis of sexual abuse in the Catholic church,
spanning scandals in the United States, Chile and Germany, right
to the heart of the papal administration.
MEDIUM-SECURITY JAIL
Pell was taken back to the Melbourne Assessment Prison on
Wednesday and is likely to be moved to a medium-security prison
in a rural area in the west of Victoria state where most of the
roughly 700 prisoners are sex offenders, including priests
convicted of paedophilia.
"Corrections authorities conduct rigorous security and risk
assessments on anyone coming into the prison system to ensure
their placement is safe and secure," the Justice Department said
in a statement. It does not comment on individual prisoners.
Pell appealed against his conviction to Victoria's Court of
Appeal on three grounds, mainly on the argument that the jury's
verdict was unreasonable based on the evidence at the trial.
Supporters of abuse victims stand outside the Supreme Court in Melbourne, Australia. Australia's appeals court upheld convictions against Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic to be found guilty of sexually abusing children. Picture: Andy Brownbill/AP
However, the court ruled in a 2-1 judgement that the
conviction was reasonable, with two judges saying the surviving
victim was a "compelling witness, was clearly not a liar, was
not a fantasist and was a witness of truth".
"As might have been expected, there were some things which
he could remember and many things which he could not. And his
explanations of why that was so had the ring of truth," the two
judges said.
In contrast, they said the evidence by people supporting
Pell varied in quality and consistency.
Small groups of activists and victims of abuse gathered
outside the court in Melbourne cheered when they heard the
verdict.
Lisa Flynn of Shine Lawyers, representing the father of the
choir boy who died, told reporters the judgment sent a "positive
message to survivors that they will be heard and that they won't
be called fantasists".
STILL A CARDINAL
The pope has previously said he would wait for Australian
civil justice to take its course before commenting on the case.
Pell is still a cardinal in the Catholic Church and would
still be a priest even if he resigns that position.
The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
(CDF) would have to find him guilty in a separate canonical
trial or abbreviated procedure, known as an "administrative
process", before he could be dismissed from the priesthood.
The CDF has been looking into the accusations against Pell
since his conviction in Australia.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the courts had done their
job and that he expected Pell would lose his Australian honours.
The Governor-General of Australia said in a statement Pell's
Companion of the Order of Australia, awarded in 2005, would be
reviewed once all legal proceedings were finished.
The dissenting view from Justice Mark Weinberg said the
victim "was inclined to embellish aspects of his account" and
the evidence contained enough discrepancies and inadequacies to
cause him to doubt Pell's guilt.
The Australian judges said Pell should not be made a
"scapegoat for any perceived failings of the Catholic church nor
for any failure in relation to child sexual abuse by other
clergy". They said his conviction and sentence was not
vindication of the trauma suffered by other victims of abuse.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the Catholic
church's top body in Australia, said it accepted the court's
decision and acknowledged the pain that those abused by clergy
have experienced through Pell's trials and appeal.
The current archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli, said
he stood ready to offer pastoral and spiritual help to Pell's
victim, should he seek it.