George Pell facing string of lawsuits linked to victims of child sex abuse
Cardinal George Pell is facing three seperate lawsuits linked to victims of child sex abuse spanning decades. But more may be on the way for the jailed sex offender.
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Cardinal George Pell is facing a string of civil litigation linked to victims of child sex abuse spanning decades.
The jailed sex offender, who this week appealed his convictions, is currently facing at least three seperate Supreme Court lawsuits.
But it is understood more could soon be filed.
At a brief hearing for one of the cases today it was revealed Pell is being sued by a victim of notorious paedophile Ted Bales, who changed his name from Edward Dowlan to avoid publicity.
The victim alleges Pell knew of the abuse but did nothing to stop it.
The man was abused while a student at East Melbourne’s now closed Cathedral College.
It is understood the claim relates to Pell’s period of Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne between 1987 and 1996.
The current bishop of Ballarat Paul Bird, Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli and the Catholic Education Commission are also listed as defendants in the claim.
Michael Magaznik, on behalf of the plaintiff, told the court Pell was yet to respond to the claim.
He told the court the claim was not a complicated one, adding the abuse was not in doubt and his client had already been compensated for it.
If the parties cannot reach a settlement the matter will go to trial before a jury next year.
The Herald Sun understands Pell is aware of at least one action that has been brought against him since he was sentenced to a maximum jail term in March.
Bales was first jailed in 1996 for sexually abusing children while teaching in Ballarat and Melbourne between 1971 and 1982.
In 2015 he was jailed for six years with a non-parole period of three years after pleading guilty to molesting another 20 students.
But the term was later increased, to eight years and five months’ jail with a non-parole period of five years and eight months, on appeal by Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions.
Bales, and the Christian Brothers order, came under heavy scrutiny at the recent Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Most of the allegations Commissioners heard about in relation to the Christian Brothers related to sexual abuse by Bales.
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One of his victims was forced to make a public apology to Bales for “spreading lies” after reporting his abuse in the 1970s.
In their findings the Commissioners were satisfied “that there was no effective response to any of those reports or complaints in order to manage the risk to children posed by Dowlan”.
They found there “was a complete failure by the Christian Brothers to protect the most vulnerable children in their care”.