AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)
Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Monday 17 March 2014
Cardinal George Pell was told an abuse victim was seeking only $100,000 from the Catholic church, contrary to earlier evidence that Pell denied he knew the figure, a royal commission has heard.
The commission is examining John Ellis’s experiences when he approached the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney over sexual abuse by a priest between 1974 and 1979.
It heard last week that Ellis sought an ex-gratia payment of $100,000 because of needs arising from ongoing trauma following abuse by Father Aidan Duggan at Bass Hill.
Monsignor Brian Rayner, who was chancellor and vicar-general of the archdiocese between 2003 and 2005, told the inquiry on Monday he ran all financial matters by Pell. As such, he was Pell’s right-hand man in administrative affairs.
Asked by counsel for the commission Gail Furness SC whether he had told Pell that Ellis and his wife Nicola had asked for $100,000 for counselling and accommodation costs related to the impact of the abuse, Rayner replied: “Yes, he would have been told that.”
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