AUSTRALIA
The Age
August 21, 2009
By Adam Cooper
One of the three Court of Appeal judges who heard George Pell’s appeal believes there is a “significant possibility” the cardinal did not commit the child sex crimes he’s in jail for and would have acquitted him.
Justice Mark Weinberg said he was not convinced by the victim’s evidence and could not exclude the possibility that some parts of the former choirboy’s testimony were “concocted”.
Justice Weinberg, a former Federal Court judge who presided over the trial of Melbourne’s Bourke Street killer James Gargasoulas last year, said there was a body of evidence that made it “impossible to accept” the victim’s account.
“From … the complainant’s evidence, it can be seen that there was ample material upon which his account could be legitimately subject to criticism. There were inconsistencies, and discrepancies, and a number of his answers simply made no sense,” Justice Weinberg wrote in his judgment released on Wednesday.
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