Australia’s Cardinal Pell in court on Wednesday on sex-abuse charges

AUSTRALIA
Crux

May 2, 2018

AP

MELBOURNE, Australia – The first details of Cardinal George Pell’s upcoming trials on sexual abuse charges emerged Wednesday when he made an administrative appearance in court.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed the charges would likely be split into two separate trials which would take a total of between eight and 10 weeks to be heard.

Pell’s lawyer Robert Richter asked the judge to start the trials as soon as possible, due in part to the cardinal’s advanced age of 76. Prosecutor Mark Gibson asked for up to three months to prepare the case.

Judge Sue Pullen said she thought three months was a “little excessive.”

Pell left the court on bail ahead of his next hearing on May 16. Pullen rejected Richter’s application for Pell to be excused from attending court that day.

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