Cardinal George Pell acquitted after jury found him guilty of sexually abusing 2 choirboys: A look at the case
Cardinal George Pell, the Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church who was found guilty of child sexual abuse in 2018, has walked free from his conviction after Australia's highest court overturned it.
The former Vatican treasurer, 78, was first sentenced to six years of imprisonment after a jury found that he sexually abused two choir boys in Melbourne in the 1990s. He was the first prominent Catholic figure to ever be jailed for such crimes. But the Australian cleric has always maintained his innocence since being charged by the police in 2017.
The allegations against him had stirred the Vatican and the Catholic Church to its core, as Cardinal Pell had been a senior advisor to Pope Francis. The bench comprising a panel of seven judges, ruled unanimously in the defendant's favor, on the grounds that the jury had not properly considered all the evidence presented at the trial.
According to BBC, Cardinal Pell made a statement after his sentence was lifted following the court's decision, in which he said: "I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice."
This was his final challenge after his conviction had been upheld by a lower court last year. he served over 400 days of his sentence before it was waived under the new development in the case. He was released from Barwon Prison in Victoria, where he was being held, and transported to a Carmelite Monastery in Melbourne, local media outlets reported.
Who is Cardinal George Pell?
Cardinal George Pell is one of the highest-ranking Catholic figures in the global hierarchy. He was ordained as a cardinal in 2003 and summoned to the Vatican to organize and manage the finances in 2014. For years he'd established himself as a disciplined religious leader of the Church and held conservative views against homosexuality, abortion, and contraception. In Australia, he was among the political elite building a rapport with former ministers and other leaders, who publically supported him with official statements when he was convicted.
What was he found guilty of?
In June 2017, Victoria Police charged Pell with "historical sexual assault offenses." Pell, who was in Rome at the time, vehemently denied the charges. Subsequently, in May 2018, a judge gave the green light for a criminal trial to be held in Australia and Pell initially plead not guilty. The trial ended in a hung jury in September 2018 and prompted another trial.
In December 2018, a second jury unanimously found Cardinal Pell guilty of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choir boys in private rooms in St Patrick's Cathedral. This was back in the mid-1990s when he served as the Archbishop of Melbourne. The charges he was convicted on were one count of sexual penetration and four counts of committing inappropriate acts.
Only one of the surviving victims testified against Cardinal Pell at the trial, and while the abuse was not witnessed or experienced by anyone else, dozens of churchgoers came forward with testimonial evidence and alibis. Pell's appealed against the verdict in Victoria's Court of Appeal in 2019, but the decision was upheld by three judges based on a 2-1 majority.
How did his appeal succeed?
The Cardinal's argument was that the jury and the appeal judges from his earlier trial had entirely relied on the "compelling" evidence provided by the alleged victim. Pell's lawyer's never sought to invalidate that testimony. Instead, they argued that the jury hadn't exactly examined the other evidence.
The High Court that the cleric had filed his appeal to, ruled in his favor saying the other testimonies had implied "a reasonable possibility that the offending had not taken place."
"The jury, acting rationally on the whole of the evidence, ought to have entertained a doubt as to the applicant's guilt," the court concluded in its summary judgment.
What was the reaction to the decision?
Cardinal Pell only said that the injustice meted out against him had been "remedied", and he bears no ill will against his accuser.
In a statement released after the case was dismissed, Cardinal Pell said "I do not want my acquittal to add to the hurt and bitterness so many feel; there is certainly hurt and bitterness enough," he said in a statement.
"However my trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church; nor a referendum on how Church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of pedophilia in the Church."
The father of one of the deceased victims was shocked at the decision, his lawyer, Lisa Flynn revealed: "He says he no longer has faith in our country's criminal justice system."
"The High Court has made its decision and that must be respected," said Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He added that his thoughts were always with the victims of the abuse for whom the talk of this topic was a haunting reminder of the pain they'd experienced.
Victoria Police said it will continue to be "committed to investigating sexual assault offenses and providing justice for victims no matter how many years have passed".