AUSTRALIA
Catholic Weekly
By Monica Doumit December 15, 2015
In this past week, we heard news that Cardinal George Pell’s testimony before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse would be delayed after his treating cardiologist deemed it unsafe for him to take the long-haul flight back to Australia.
The news prompted the expected reaction from mainstream and social media, with scepticism, scorn and derision being the most popular responses.
There has also been a lot of misinformation being spread, the most serious being that the cardinal sought to delay the giving of his evidence.
This is, of course, untrue.
Allan Myers QC, the lawyer appearing for Cardinal Pell, asked that the cardinal be permitted to provide his evidence via video link. Mr Myers noted that video evidence is used all the time in hearings, particularly for witnesses who would otherwise have to travel a long distance. Indeed, two witnesses appeared via video link before this same hearing in the same week in which the application was made on behalf of Cardinal Pell.
And Gerald Ridsdale, the perpetrator of many of the crimes being looked at in the Ballarat hearings, gave evidence over a number of days via video link in May.
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