Cardinal George Pell historical sex abuse claims face test in court

One of Cardinal Pell’s alleged victims is dead, was charged with trafficking heroin and denied being abused, a court has heard.

Cardinal George Pell faces charges over a number of historical sexual allegations. Picture: AAP

One of Cardinal George Pell’s alleged victims is dead, was charged with trafficking heroin and denied being abused, a court has heard.

A hearing was conducted this morning to finalise outstanding legal issues before a four-week committal of Cardinal Pell begins on Monday.

Cardinal Pell was charged in June with a number of historical sex offences relating to a number of complainants.

The cardinal’s legal team had been seeking material from Victorian Legal Aid in relation to a pre-sentencing report for one of the alleged victims.

The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard the man is dead and the document was prepared for a court appearance in 2006 but the man also faced heroin trafficking charges in 2012.

Robert Richter QC said the alleged victim was central to “a very serious allegation” and for the man not to mention any allegation of “interference” by Cardinal Pell in a pre-sentence report “speaks volumes”.

“It is critical to the credibility of these allegations whether back in 2012 when it was entirely in (the alleged victim’s) interest to make allegations of sexual abuse by the cardinal that no allegation was made.”

Mr Richter said the document was relevant to the credibility of claims made in a particular episode.

“There’s evidence of that person denying there was abuse,” he said.

“But in the context of trying to mitigate sentence and giving a psychological history, the context of it is of far greater significance than saying to mother ‘No I haven’t been abused’.”

Peter Hanks QC, acting for Victorian Legal Aid, told the court it would breach the Legal Aid Act to give detail of the provision of Legal Aid assistance.

He said the forensic impact of providing detail was not relevant to the prohibition set out in the Act.

Magistrate Belinda Wallington set aside the subpoena to Legal Aid.

The court heard the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan had now provided all of the material requested by Cardinal Pell’s team but material from The Sydney Morning Herald was still outstanding.

The case will return to court on Friday.