Puffing Billy ex-volunteer fails to have identity suppressed over child sex charges
A MAGISTRATE has referred to the prosecution of Cardinal George Pell in refusing to suppress publication of the name of a former Puffing Billy volunteer facing child sex charges.
Law & Order
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A MAGISTRATE referred to the prosecution of Cardinal George Pell in refusing to suppress publication of the name of a former Puffing Billy volunteer facing child sex charges.
Lawyers for Kevin Findlay, 87, who was charged in June, sought the suppression order at his first court date today, arguing that media interest had made his life difficult and he feared that adverse publicity would see him kicked out of his nursing home.
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They even argued that a suppression would reduce pressure on one of his accusers.
The magistrate was told that Mr Findlay’s family had been harassed because of reporting of the allegations, and he had been unduly embarrassed and was suffering more because of his age.
But magistrate Simon Zebrowski said such media interest was the “nature of the beast” when people, though presumed innocent, faced historical sex charges, and many of them were “old and fragile”.
He said that as was the case with Cardinal Pell, who is being prosecuted in “probably the most high-profile case in the history of the Commonwealth”, there was no reason to suppress Mr Findlay’s name.
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Mr Findlay did not face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. A medical report said he suffered illnesses including cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
The train enthusiast faces multiple child sex charges dating to the 1970s and ’80s relating to two complainants.
Mr Findlay is next due to face court in September.
