Cardinal George Pell to spend nearly four years in jail for child sexual assault

Chief judge calls Pell’s crimes ‘breathtakingly arrogant’ as he sentences Pell to six years in jail, with non-parole period of three years and eight months

George Pell sentenced to six years in jail – live updates

Cardinal George Pell has been sentenced to six years in jail after being convicted of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in 1996.

The former Vatican treasurer, 77, was handed a non-parole period of three years and eight months by the judge, who described his offending as “brazen and forceful” and “breathtakingly arrogant” because he believed the victims would never complain.

The sentence means he may spend at least three years and eight months in jail.

He is the most senior member of the Catholic Church to be convicted and jailed for child sexual abuse.

Pell was convicted last month on five charges of child sexual assault, following a committal hearing, a mistrial and a trial. He has lodged an appeal, which will be heard in June.

Chief judge Peter Kidd said the sentence carried a real possibility that Pell would not live to be released. “Facing jail at your age in these circumstances must be an awful state of affairs for you,” he said.

Kidd’s sentencing before Melbourne’s county court on Wednesday morning was broadcast live around the world. Once the financial controller of the Vatican and confidant to the pope, Pell sat in the dock dressed in a black shirt and beige jacket, using a walking cane, and stared straight at Kidd, expressionless. Two police officers sat either side of him, and one directly behind.

In his sentencing remarks Kidd said Pell’s offending had “a significant and long lasting impact” on the complainant’s wellbeing. “I take into account the profound impact your offending has had [on the complainant’s] life.” Kidd referred to the complainant only as “J” throughout his sentencing remarks, and to the other victim, who died in 2014, as “R”.

“During the incident, J and R were crying and sobbing,” Kidd said.

“In my view, the first episode in the priest’s sacristy involved a brazen and forceful sexual attack on the two victims. The acts were sexually graphic. Both victims were visibly and audibly distressed during this offending.”

Each of the five charges – one of sexual penetration of a minor under the age of 16 and four of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16 – carried a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment. Pell will be a registered sex offender for life, and will be required to allow police to collect forensic samples from him. He stood as the sentence was read.

The judge rejected sentencing arguments put forward by Pell’s defence team that, if the offending had occurred, Pell must have experienced a moment of irrationality.

(February 25, 1941) 

Pell is born in the Victorian town of Ballarat.

(February 25, 1972) 

Pell returns as a parish priest to Ballarat, where abuse is widespread

(February 25, 1973) 

Pell lives with the paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

(February 25, 1993) 

Pell supports Ridsdale at a court appearance for child sex offences. Ridsdale is eventually convicted of abusing more than 60 children.

(February 25, 1996) 

Pell is appointed archbishop of Melbourne. He introduces the Melbourne Response, which offers counselling to victims of sexual abuse but caps compensation payments. 

(February 25, 2001) 

Pell is appointed archbishop of Sydney. 

(February 25, 2003) 

Pope John Paul II appoints Pell a cardinal.

(November 1, 2012) 

The Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, announces the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

(January 1, 2014) 

Pell is appointed the prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, effectively the Vatican’s treasurer. 

(March 1, 2014) 

Pell appears before the royal commission for the first time

(August 1, 2014) 

Pell appears again in Melbourne, where he likens the church’s responsibility for child abuse to that of a “trucking company” whose driver had sexually assaulted a hitch-hiker.  

(March 26, 2016) 

Pell gives evidence to the royal commission via videolink from Rome. He denies he had any knowledge at the time of Ridsdale's offending. He says once he did find out, it was a “sad story” but “not of much interest” to him.

(October 26, 2016) 

Australian detectives interview Pell in Rome about child sexual abuse allegations. Pell dismisses them as “absolute and disgraceful rubbish”. 

(June 26, 2017) 

Pell is charged with multiple sexual offences.

(May 1, 2018) 

Pell is ordered to stand trial over multiple allegations. The details may not be reported at this time for legal reasons. Pell says he will plead not guilty. The charges are to be split into two trials. The first relates to allegations that Pell sexually abused two choirboys at St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996 and 1997. The second relates to allegations Pell molested boys at the Ballarat swimming pool in the 1970s.

(May 15, 2018) 

Prosecutors request a suppression order, later approved, which bars reporting of the trials.  

(August 19, 2018) 

The jury in the first trial fails to reach a verdict. A mistrial is declared.

(December 11, 2018) 

The jury in the retrial finds Pell guilty on all charges. 

(February 26, 2019) 

Prosecutors drop the swimming pool charges after the judge rules certain evidence is inadmissible. The suppression order on the first trial is lifted.

(March 13, 2019) 

Chief judge calls Pell’s crimes ‘breathtakingly arrogant’ as he sentences Pell to six years in jail, with non-parole period of three years and eight months 

(August 21, 2019) 

Pell's appeal against his conviction for child sex abuse is dismissed by the Victorian court of appeal. The three-judge court of appeal dismissed Pell’s first grounds for appeal – that the jury acted unreasonably in finding him guilty – by a margin of two to one. The other two grounds of appeal were dismissed unanimously. He will remain in jail until at least October 2022.

“Your decision to offend was a reasoned, albeit perverted, one,” Kidd said. “Certainly you were confident your victims would not complain … the offending which the jury has found you have engaged in was, on any view, breathtakingly arrogant.

“As archbishop, you did have a relationship of approval in relation to the choirboys. In part, the choirboys were performing to please you as archbishop. The choirboys were the least powerful and the most subordinate individuals at the cathedral. The power imbalance between the victims and all the senior church leaders or officials, yourself included, was stark.”

Kidd reinforced the point several times during the sentencing, saying: “I conclude that your decision to offend was a reasoned, albeit perverted, one, and I reach that conclusion to the criminal standard.”

He said any breach of this trust should be seen by the law as “grave”.

Kidd said he had sentenced Pell “without fear or favour”.

“There has been extraordinary and widespread publicity and public comment which has surrounded you for a number of years,” Kidd said. “Some of this publicity has involved strong, trenchant and sometimes emotional criticism of you. Indeed, it is fair to say that in some sections of the community you are a publicly vilified figure. We have witnessed, outside of this court and within our community, examples of a witch-hunt or a lynch mob mentality in relation to you, Cardinal Pell. I utterly condemn such behaviour.”

Kidd made it clear to Pell he was sentencing him only on the basis of the offending considered by the jury and their subsequent conviction. He said his sentencing had nothing to do with the Catholic church and its failings, or community attitudes towards Pell.

At multiple points during the sentencing, Kidd referred to Pell’s arrogance.

“In my opinion, all of the offending across both episodes is made significantly more serious because of the surrounding or contextual circumstances – namely the breach of trust and abuse of power,” Kidd told him. “This elevates the gravity of each of the offences. In my view, your conduct was permeated by staggering arrogance.”

However, Kidd acknowledged Pell’s risk of reoffending was low, given his age and poor health.

Outside the court about a dozen protesters gathered in both support and defence of Pell. Pell was led to and from the dock through a back entrance of the court.

At the sentencing hearing on 27 February, Pell’s defence barrister, Robert Richter, had argued Pell’s sentence should be on the “lower end” because there were “no aggravating circumstances” to one of the offences. It was “no more than a plain vanilla sexual penetration case where the child is not actively participating”, he said. Richter later apologised for that description.

Prosecutor Mark Gibson argued Pell should be given a significant sentence, describing the offences as “humiliating and degrading towards each boy”.

At the trial, the complainant, now 35, said he and the another 13-year-old choirboy separated from the choir procession as it exited the church building. He and the other boy sneaked back into the church corridors and entered the priest’s sacristy, a place they knew they should not be. There they found some sacramental wine and began to drink. The complainant alleged that Pell had walked in on them.

Pell then manoeuvred his robes to expose his penis. He stepped forward, grabbed the other boy by the back of his head and lowered the boy’s head towards his penis, the complainant told the court. Pell then did the same thing to the complainant, orally raping him. Once he had finished, he ordered the complainant to remove his pants, before fondling the complainant’s penis and masturbating himself.

“There is an added layer of degradation and humiliation that each of your victims must have felt in knowing that their abuse had been witnessed by the other,” Kidd said.

A few weeks later Pell attacked the complainant again as he passed him in the church corridor, pushing him against the wall and squeezing his genitals hard through his choir robes, before walking off.

Blue Knot Foundation – 1300 657 380
Support for survivors of childhood trauma.

Bravehearts Inc – 1800 272 831
Counselling and support for survivors, child protection advocacy.

1800 Respect – 1800 737 732
24-hour telephone and online crisis support, information and immediate referral to specialist counselling for anyone in Australia who has experienced or been affected by sexual assault, or domestic or family violence.

Lifeline – 13 11 14
24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention.

Kids Helpline – 1800 55 1800
Free, private and confidential 24/7 phone and online counselling service for young people.

Care Leavers Australasia Network – 1800 008 774
Support and advocacy for people brought up in care homes.

Child Migrants Trust – 1800 040 509
Social work services for former child migrants, including counselling and support for family reunions.

Child Wise – 1800 991 099
Trauma informed telephone and online counselling for childhood abuse. Training and organisational capacity-building on child abuse prevention.

• For a list of support services by state, visit the information page of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Contributor

Melissa Davey

The GuardianTramp

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