Cardinal George Pell’s lawyers denied access to further materials relating to his alleged victims
GEORGE Pell’s defence team has been denied access to material held by Victoria Legal Aid on one of his alleged victims, as the hearing into historic sex charges continues.
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LAWYERS defending George Pell against historic sex charges have been denied access to materials relating to one of his alleged victim’s criminal history.
Magistrate Belinda Wallington said she had no power to compel Victoria Legal Aid to hand over the material from when they represented the complainant in unrelated criminal matters in 2006 and 2012.
It comes after Magistrate Wallington earlier this month refused requests by the Cardinal’s lawyers to get copies of his complainants’ private medical records.
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Robert Richter QC, for Cardinal Pell, had argued in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday they wanted to know if the legal aid material contained any information that the complainant, referred to in court as MR, had been sexually abused.
Mr Richter said it was critical for the credibility of the allegations against his client if the complainant had detailed them as a mitigating factor.
He said there was evidence the same complainant, who had since died, had denied the abuse to his mother.
“MR is central to one of the allegations and it's a very serious allegation,” Mr Richter said.
“It’s relevant to the claims that are made. They go to the whole credibility of this issue.”
Defence counsel Ruth Shann also remarked: “We have people alleging that things occurred decades ago and the issue is recent invention.”
The complainant is one of multiple alleged victims to claim abuse by Cardinal Pell.
Details of the alleged offending, and the number of charges, is not yet known.
But Cardinal Pell vehemently denies the allegations against him, and when charged in June last year, said he would fight them in court.
The high-ranking Catholic was not required to attend Tuesday’s court hearing.
His case will return to the magistrates’ court on Friday for final legal arguments before a four-week hearing, which the Cardinal will have to attend and will determine if he will go to trial, starts on Monday.
The first two weeks of the hearing is likely to be closed to the public, and unable to be reported on by the media, as the alleged victims are expected to give evidence.