‘You may not live to be released from jail’: George Pell sentenced for historic child sex abuse
The disgraced cardinal has been sentenced to six years in jail for sexually abusing boys decades ago. This is what he’ll face over the next few years.
George Pell has been sentenced to six years in prison for child sex crimes, with the judge admitting the disgraced cardinal “may not live to be released from prison”.
“Facing jail at your age in these circumstances must be an awful state of affairs for you,” Chief Judge Peter Kidd told the County Court of Melbourne today.
Pell, who has already spent 14 days in jail ahead of his pre-sentencing, was sentenced to six years for his historic and horrific crimes, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months.
In handing down his sentence, Judge Kidd ran through the submissions from Pell’s counsel relating to the difficult time the Cardinal would undoubtably have in prison.
“Life in prison will be more onerous for you than other prisoners in the general population and indeed other sexual offenders because of your notoriety and the animosity to which you are likely to be exposed,” Judge Kidd said, referring to submissions from Pell’s defence.
In an affidavit, the Assistant Commissioner of Corrections Victoria admitted the level of risk to Pell was assessed as “immediate risk of serious threat”.
Corrections Victoria said after some time Pell “may” be able to interact with “a limited number of heavily vetted prisoners”.
“I emphasise the term — the use of the term ‘may’,” Judge Kidd said.
There has already been concern for Pell’s safety even out of the prison system.
One indication was today at his sentencing, where Pell sat flanked by five prison guards — an unusually high number for a country court sentence.
The prosecution accepted that, at first, Pell’s time in prison would be “more burdensome than that of other prisoners”.
“The prosecution went on to contend, however, that your future custody classification and conditions are unknown and are therefore speculative,” Judge Kidd added.
Pell will be classified as a high-profile prisoner when he goes to jail and has already been given protection status, according to the affidavit submitted by Corrections Victoria.
The affidavit also highlighted that conditions for protected and high-profile prisoners no longer differ as much as they used to in Victorian prisons.
“The affidavit also highlights that the conditions of persons with protection status at various different prisons are no longer significantly more restricted than those within the mainstream prison populations,” Judge Kidd said.
Despite that, Judge Kidd rejected the Crown’s submission that Pell’s experience in prison would be like any other person in protective custody.
“I think that your situation, Cardinal Pell, is somewhat unique,” he said.
Judge Kidd said there were already “concerns” about Pell’s safety in prison.
“There are concerns about your notoriety and the extremely high-profile nature of your case,” he said.
“This gives rise to security and safety concerns.”
Despite protective custody lessening the safety risk towards the 77-year-old cardinal, Pell would still start his sentence in isolation.
Even Pell’s age — he enters prison as a 77 year old — would not serve as protection, Judge Kidd said.
“Your position is not improved because of your advanced years and the vulnerability which goes with that,” he said.
“I accept your counsel’s argument that I should give weight to these considerations.”
In handing down his sentence, Judge Kidd lashed the cardinal for “callous indifference” to his victims’ suffering.
Pell was facing a maximum sentence of 50 years in jail for abusing two boys in 1996 and 1997.
Going through the crimes in graphic detail, Judge Kidd said Pell’s actions had a “profound impact” on the life of the boy who survived his abuse and likely had a similar impact on the boy who later died of a heroin overdose.
Assaulting two choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral with both present likely caused additional “degradation and humiliation”, the judge said.
Pell will be eligible for parole in three years and eight months.
PRISON SENTENCE COULD ONLY BE THE BEGINNING
The Catholic Church is yet to comment on if or when it would laicise, or defrock, Pell as it waits for the convicted abuser to exhaust his appeal process.
The action, known as laicisation in the Catholic Church, would leave the Cardinal without a home to return to in Rome, would permanently banish him from the church and would also take away his ordination as a cardinal. The 77-year-old would also be stripped of his title, only able to refer to himself as Mr Pell.
Canon law allows the church to strip defrocked clerics of all financial benefits they previously received. It also frees Pope Francis of any responsibility to provide the cardinal with housing and medical care. However, civil law in Australia requires Pell to still receive a pension.
Pell has relied heavily on medical care recently with even Chief Judge Peter Kidd today citing the 77-year-old’s “significant health issues” as a factor in his sentence.
It’s unlikely Pell, who lived in one of Rome’s most exclusive apartment buildings a stone’s throw from St Peter’s Basilica, will be able to return to the Italian capital even if his appeals process is successful.
His five-year term as economy minister to the Vatican expired last month and the cardinal was quietly dropped from the Pope’s “Group of Nine” — Pope Francis’s most trusted advisers — in October 2018.
If laicised, Pell would be banned from presenting himself as a cardinal and from wearing traditional dress. He would also be banned from performing sacraments — including celebrating Mass — and would no longer be able to listen to confession.
Pell lived in his Vatican City apartment with his older sister until 2017, when he flew back to Australia to fight the sexual abuse charges.
The disgraced cardinal would lose that apartment and would also lose other privileges afforded to a man of his stature including a car and a driver at his beck and call.
The decision to laicise Pell will rest completely with Pope Francis — the only person ranked higher than cardinals in the Catholic Church.
Earlier this year, the Vatican defrocked a high-profile cardinal after he was accused of sexual misconduct against minors. There were no criminal proceedings relating to the abuse.
Theodore McCarrick was forcibly laicised in February, the first cardinal to be permanently dismissed from the priesthood by the Catholic Church over sexual abuse.
When McCarrick was defrocked, a debate raged about whether the action from the Catholic Church would have much of an impact.
Robert Ciolek, a former priest who was forced to sleep in the same bed as McCarrick in his early years, told the Washington Postthe act of defrocking was devastating for disgraced Catholic Church leaders.
“To be called Mr McCarrick the rest of his life and be barred from celebrating any of the sacraments is personally devastating — but more important, deserved, given his conduct,” Mr Ciolek told the publication.
McCarrick is still living at a friary in Kansas, where he moved to in September when he was kicked out of the ministry.
Despite that, the 88-year-old former cardinal’s savings will give him the means to find a place.
The Washington Postreported McCarrick would also likely receive housing from the hundreds of people he had ministered over the years.
