BishopAccountability.org

George Pell calls for probe into ABC, Victoria police over molestation claims

By Jared Owens
Australian
July 28, 2016

http://goo.gl/xal9eL

Cardinal Pell has issued a statement drawing attention to apparent leaking of information and allegations by elements of the Victorian Police.

Damian Dignan speaks to the ABC’s 7.30 about George Pell.

[with video]

George Pell has urged a criminal investigation into the ABC and rogue Victorian police whom he alleges may be involved in a “conspiracy to pervert the course of justice”, amid new claims the Cardinal molested two boys as a priest in the late 1970s.

Last night ABC’s 7.30 reported the claims that Victorian police were investigating multiple allegations of child sex abuse by the cardinal dating back to the 1970s. Two former St Alipius students, Lyndon Monument and Damian Dignan, told the program that Cardinal Pell would abuse boys at the Eureka swimming pool in Ballarat.

Cardinal Pell, now a senior Vatican official, has issued a statement in which he “refutes all the allegations made on the program” and pleaded for “a fair go”.

“The ABC has no licence to destroy the reputation of innocent people and Cardinal Pell, like all those who have allegations against them that have not been tested by the Courts, is entitled to the presumption of innocence not immediate condemnation. He is entitled to a fair go,” his Rome office said in a statement.

The Cardinal’s statement drew attention to apparent “leaking of information and allegations by elements of the Victorian Police to the ABC”.

Victoria Police have denied that its officers leaked information to the media about the ongoing investigation into complaints made against Cardinal Pell.

“We haven’t provided the ABC with materials and we saw that show last night it’s clear the source of that information is from the victims,” Mr Ashton told Melbourne radio 3AW.

“Anyone that saw the show last night, the victims, you could see their emotion, they are traumatised from what they are saying has happened to them, and are talking to the media about that.” Mr Ashton also revealed he had referred an earlier, similar complaint from Cardinal Pell to the state’s Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission.

“I got a letter from Cardinal Pell some time ago regarding a complaint around that. I sent it to IBAC and IBAC had a look and wrote back to me and said they dismissed the complaint,” he said. Mr Ashton confirmed an investigation was ongoing.

“The matters raised last night are being investigated among other matters,” he said.

He also said the issue was currently before the Office of Public Prosecutions and did not rule out sending officers overseas to interview Cardinal Pell.

“Anything is possible at this stage,” he said.

In his statement today, Cardinal Pell said: “This is consistent with previous patterns of improper and illegal disclosure of information from such sources to a variety of media outlets. Such information has in the past repeatedly been demonstrated to be inaccurate and unfounded,” it said.

“The Cardinal calls for an investigation to assess whether any actions of elements of the Victoria Police and the ABC program amount to a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.”

The Cardinal stressed that he did not wish to harm the men making the allegations.

“I bear no ill will and have no desire to cause them harm but what they say about me is not true,” he said.

Mr Monument claimed that in the summer of 1978-79, the then episcopal vicar for education began touching him with one hand under the water. “The hand on my crotch would cover my penis and testicles and would cover my anus area,” he said. “Father Pell would throw me into the air and I would dive into the water.”

Mr Dignan claimed the-then Father Pell would grab the boys around the testicles and anus.

The 7.30 program also reported allegations that Cardinal Pell abused two teenage choirboys in the 1990s. It was reported one of the boys died two years ago and the other was working with Victorian detectives.




.


Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.