AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Thursday 10 December 2015
The chair of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse has refused to allow Cardinal George Pell to appear by video link, instead deferring the hearing until February to ensure Pell can appear in person.
A lawyer representing Pell, Allan Myers, made an application for Pell to give evidence next week via video link from Rome rather than appear in person, citing health reasons.
Myers told the commission chair, Justice Peter McClellan, that Pell “deeply regrets this and has been preparing himself for this duty for some time”.
McClellan refused the request, and said he would rather Pell appear in person. He said given there were two complex matters Pell was due to give evidence on, and after technical problems when Pell previously appeared before the commission via video link, he would defer Pell’s evidence until February, when the third part of hearings into abuse within the Catholic diocese of Ballarat are due to be heard.
Victims present in the court room applauded McClellan’s decision. A substantial crowd was expected next when Pell was due to appear, and extra provisions had been made for the media to cover it.
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