George Pell freed from prison after High Court quashes sex abuse convictions
George Pell left Melbourne today for a new life in Sydney, where it is understood he will retire. He is driving north with a friend following his first night of freedom at a Kew monastery after his sex abuse convictions were quashed.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
George Pell has left Melbourne and is headed to Sydney where it is expected he will eventually retire.
Pell left this morning after spending the night at the Carmelite Monastery in Kew.
He told friends he had a good night's sleep, slept in until 8am, had breakfast at 9am and enjoyed a walk around the monastery gardens.
He is driving to Sydney with a friend.
Pell has family in Victoria and was said to be disappointed that he could not visit them because of the coronavirus.
So he decided to return to Sydney, where he was Archbishop following his stint running the Melbourne archdiocese.
Pell is fond of the Harbour City, where he served as the eight archbishop between 2001 and 2014 before moving to the Vatican.
It is understood he feels more anonymous there and feels he can move around more freely.
Melbourne Archbishop Peter A. Comensoli said this morning Pell had virtually retired, and was unlikely to be given further duties.
In between his various court hearings since returning to Australia in 2017, Pell spent most of his time in Sydney.
While there he stayed at the Seminary of the Good Shepherd in Homebush.
Daily newspapers were delivered outside the Kew monastery this morning which featured Pell’s court case on the front pages.
A child's trike and ribbons were tied to the front gates of the compound. A man in a face mask and wearing gloves removed the trike this morning.
St Patrick’s Cathedral in East Melbourne was also vandalised overnight.
The words “no justice” and “the law protects the powerful” were graffitied on the cathedral.
Pell, 78, spent more than 400 days behind bars after being found guilty of abusing two choirboys at St Patrick’s Cathedral in the 1990s.
He was sensationally acquitted of all charges yesterday and left prison a free man.
The High Court yesterday ruled the jury’s verdicts, on four counts of indecent assault and one of sexual penetration of a child, were unsafe.
Pell was driven out of the prison in a black VW Tiguan at 12.31pm.
In his first words after the decision, Pell said: “I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice
“This has been remedied today with the High Court’s unanimous decision.
“I look forward to reading the Judgment and reasons for the decision in detail.
“I hold no ill will to my accuser, I do not want my acquittal to add to the hurt and bitterness so many feel; there is certainly hurt and bitterness enough.
“However my trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church; nor a referendum on how Church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of paedophilia in the Church.
“The point was whether I had committed these awful crimes, and I did not.
“The only basis for long term healing is truth and the only basis for justice is truth, because justice means truth for all.”
Pope Francis did not comment directly on Pell’s freedom last night but said ahead of his daily mass that he was praying for “all those people who suffer unjust sentences resulting from intransigence (against them)”.
In these days of #Lent, we've been witnessing the persecution that Jesus underwent and how He was judged ferociously, even though He was innocent. Let us #PrayTogether today for all those persons who suffer due to an unjust sentence because of someone had it in for them.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 7, 2020
Cardinal Pell took his fight to the High Court after the Victorian Court of Appeal dismissed an earlier appeal in a majority ruling.
In its unanimous decision the High Court said the majority of Victoria’s Court of Appeal who dismissed Pell’s first appeal “failed to engage with the question of whether there remained a reasonable possibility that the offending had not taken place, such that there ought to have been a reasonable doubt as to the applicant’s guilt”.
Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli has responded to true High Court decision to quash George Pell’s convictions. He says the case has been “intense and painful†for all personally involved. He has specifically acknowledged Witness J, the sole living complainant in the case. pic.twitter.com/OlqpWmb7mG
— Shannon Deery (@s_deery) April 7, 2020
The court found unchallenged evidence of opportunity witnesses was inconsistent with the complainant’s evidence.
It meant despite what the jury made of the complainant’s evidence, the unchallenged evidence meant the jury must have had a reasonable doubt.
He relied on two grounds of appeal, centred on the argument that the jury that convicted had no right to do so in light of all of the evidence at trial.
Prosecutors have maintained that not only was the offending not impossible, the jury was entitled to its verdict based on the strength of evidence from the single living complainant.
Pell has vehemently denied any wrongdoing since being charged in 2017 following a lengthy police investigation.
He immediately resigned as Vatican treasurer and returned from Rome to Australia to face charges and clear his name.
Other claims were also unlikely, he said, particularly that the boys would have had access to altar wine, which was “always locked away” after mass.
“You could scarcely imagine a place that was more unlikely to be committing paedophilia crimes than the sacristy of a cathedral after Sunday mass,” he said.
This 45-minute police interview was all the jury heard from Pell.
But through their verdicts they preferred the evidence given by the complainant who sources who witnessed his evidence described as a wholly credible.
For much of his year in prison Pell was held in 23-hour lock down at the Melbourne Assessment Prison because of fears for his safety.
He was moved to Barwon Prison after a security scare in January.
Legal experts say Pell’s High Court appeal will go down as one of the most significant in Australian history, in particular in regards to what the court says about the standing of juries.
The decision will do little to sway the court of public opinion in Pell’s favour.
But sources say that is of little concern to him.
The end of Pell’s criminal proceedings now clears the way for the child abuse royal commission to release their unredacted findings into how church leaders in Ballarat and Melbourne handled the abuse crisis.
Pell was a key witness in hearings into each diocese with reports that followed virtually silent in regards to his evidence so as not to prejudice any criminal matters.
The full findings are expected to be damning, and could spark a whole new set of legal woes for the cardinal.
Judgment has been delivered in Pell v The Queen https://t.co/TzjVX0RLXh
— High Court of Australia (@HighCourtofAus) April 7, 2020
Cardinal Pell’s statement offered thanks to his supporters and legal team.
“A special thanks for all the prayers and thousands of letters of support,” he said.
“I want to thank in particular my family for their love and support and what they had to go through; my small team of advisers; those who spoke up for me and suffered as a result; and all my friends and supporters here and overseas.
“Also my deepest thanks and gratitude to my entire legal team for their unwavering resolve to see justice prevail, to throw light on manufactured obscurity and to reveal the truth.
“Finally, I am aware of the current health crisis. I am praying for all those affected and our medical frontline personnel.”
Former chief magistrate Nick Papas said the decision was not unexpected.
“It’s a classic application of the High Court dealing with well known principles,” he said.
“It’s all about a final check, in a sense, to make sure that juries don’t get things so wrong that there is this risk, as they described it, a significant possibility an innocent person has been convicted.”
In a statement, Victoria Police said: “We respect the decision of the High Court in this matter and continue to provide support to those complainants involved.
“Victoria Police remains committed to investigating sexual assault offences and providing justice for victims no matter how many years have passed.
“We would also like to acknowledge the thorough work on this case by Taskforce Sano investigators over many years.”
Premier Daniel Andrews said: “I make no comment about today’s High Court decision.
“But I have a message for every single victim and survivor of child sex abuse: I see you. I hear you. I believe you.”
SURVIVORS SPEAK OUT
The man who says George Pell sexually abused him says he is glad the drawn-out criminal proceedings are finally over.
The man, known only as witness J, testified against Pell over claims he was abused while a choirboy at St Patrick’s Cathedral after Sunday mass in 1996.
Witness J said he and another choirboy, who has since died, were drinking altar wine in the sacristy when Pell found them and assaulted them.
The other boy, who has since died, denied ever being assaulted.
The father of the deceased choirboy was left in “utter disbelief” by the decision, his lawyer said.
“Our client is currently in shock. He is struggling to comprehend the decision. He says he no longer has faith in our country’s criminal justice system,” his lawyer Lisa Flynn said.
“He is furious the man he believes is responsible for sexually abusing his son was convicted by a unanimous jury only to have that decision overturned.
“He is heartbroken for the surviving victim who stuck his neck out by coming forward to tell his story but was ultimately let down by a legal process that forced him to relive his pain and trauma for no benefit.”
Ms Flynn said the father had “no doubt George Pell sexually abused his son and that his son’s sudden turmoil was a direct result of the abuse he suffered”.
Victims advocates said the decision risked preventing complainants in sexual assault matters from coming forward for fear of not being believed.
Beyond Blue chair, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who launched the royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse, said support was available for survivors.
“Recovery from sexual abuse in childhood can be complex and can take time,” she said.
“For many people, particularly those who have experienced trauma, (yesterday’s) news may bring a range of emotions. It’s important to know that support is available.”
Steven Spaner, from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said he hoped survivors in Australia would continue to make police reports.
“In this case, the powerful have won and the prize is the continuation of the church’s tradition of abuse obfuscation and minimization,” Mr Spaner said.
“We believe that this ruling will make others lose their faith in the criminal justice system and will send the message that survivors should stay hidden and silent rather than come forward and seek justice,” he said.
Sex abuse victims advocate Chrissie Foster, whose daughters were abused by Catholic priests, described the decision as “devastating”
“It’s a terrible shock, they got the guilty verdict, they went through all the process, that was the verdict we had and it was upheld and now it means nothing,” she said.
READ MORE:
ANDREW BOLT: GREATEST MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
WITNESS J SPEAKS OUT AFTER PELL DECISION
SHANNON DEERY: WHY THE HIGH COURT LET PELL WALK FREE
JUSTIN QUILL: PELL DECISION DOESN’T MEAN HE’S INNOCENT
MIRANDA DEVINE: PELL PRISON RELEASE ISN’T A MIRACLE, IT’S JUSTICE
Originally published as George Pell freed from prison after High Court quashes sex abuse convictions