Respecting justice system and sexual abuse victims

Justice is often a slow train coming. For the choirboy victims whom George Pell sexually assaulted in 1996-97, it has taken far too long. One of the men died in 2014, tormented and alone. In June 2015, his childhood friend felt compelled to report the crimes to police. Yesterday Victoria’s Court of Appeal dismissed Pell’s appeal against a jury’s verdict in December. The former Vatican prefect and Catholic archbishop of Melbourne was found guilty of sexual abuse of two 13-year-old boys, including one charge of oral rape and four of committing indecent acts with a child under 16. In a previous trial on the same charges the jury was unable to reach a verdict. In March Pell was sentenced to six years in prison, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months. “The justice machine rolls on with all of its processes and punditry, almost forgetting about the people at the heart of the matter,” the surviving victim said in a statement through his lawyers.

Yet victims are squarely in the minds of Australians, even if that gives little succour in the face of ongoing turmoil. “The journey has taken me to places that, in my darkest moments, I feared I could not return from,” Pell’s victim said, speaking for a multitude. Scott Morrison offered a sentiment shared by many. “My sympathies are with the victims of child sexual abuse not just on this day but on every single day,” he said. “I would urge Australians who find themselves reliving these experiences to reach out to those around them, to reach out to the services that are there for them in whatever — in whatever — phase of life they’re in. These things can take you back a long way.”

After years of scandals, cover-ups and compelling evidence by survivors to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the nation has a deep well of compassion for victims and a cool rage towards religious perpetrators. That was the backdrop to yesterday’s decision. As the trial judge observed in February — and as the summary of yesterday’s judgment stated — Pell was not to be made a “scapegoat for any perceived failings of the Catholic Church nor for any failure in relation to child sexual abuse by other clergy. His conviction and sentence could not be a vindication of the trauma suffered by other victims of sexual abuse.”

The decision was split 2-1 in favour of dismissing the main appeal ground that the verdicts were “unreasonable and cannot be supported having regard to the evidence”. It was a question of the facts, rather than a matter of whether the trial judge had erred in law. Naturally, Pell — who maintains his innocence and may try to appeal to the High Court — and his supporters will take comfort from the dissenting judge’s view. It will affirm, perhaps even to opponents, that Pell’s believers are not unreasonable . Justice Mark Weinberg concluded there was a significant possibility Pell might not have committed the offences; in his view, the convictions could not stand.

But Chief Justice Anne Ferguson and Justice Chris Maxwell, having reviewed the same evidence, decided it was open to the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Pell was guilty. They accepted the prosecution’s claim the victim was “a very compelling witness, was clearly not a liar, was not a fantasist and was a witness of truth”. The Prime Minister said the courts had done their job. “That’s the system of justice in this country and that must be respected,” he said. The most high-profile and powerful Catholic in our recent history remains in prison, a convicted pedophile. On any measure, it has been a stunning fall from grace.

For many, this judgment draws a line under a shameful period for the Catholic Church and clergy. Trust has been eroded, the institution’s credibility has been shredded. Far from absolution or vindication, there is hollowness, grief and anger. Believers have had their faith tested; many have become estranged from the church. Can the crisis-prone, almost broken body reform itself and achieve meaningful reconciliation with its victims and flock? It’s a grim picture. Today, however, our hearts and thoughts must be with victims — the living and the dead — who were abused while not fully grown at the hands of people they had been taught to trust, honour and obey. We hope acknowledgment of their pain will help them heal. Their stories must not be so easily dismissed. No matter how powerful or prominent the perpetrator, justice will prevail.