CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
Reuters
March 11, 2020
By Sonali Paul
Lawyers for George Pell began a final bid on Wednesday to overturn the former Vatican treasurer’s conviction for sexually abusing two choirboys, arguing in Australia’s highest court that he could not have committed the offences.
Cardinal Pell, 78, began serving a six-year prison sentence a year ago, becoming the highest ranking Catholic clergyman worldwide to be jailed for child sex offences.
The High Court of Australia began a two-day hearing on Wednesday that marks Pell’s last avenue of appeal. The seven justices could throw out his application. If they proceed, they have the options of acquitting Pell, rejecting his appeal or sending the case back to a lower court.
Pell was convicted by a jury in December 2018 and sentenced in March 2019 on one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four charges of an indecent act with a child under 16. The offences occurred in the 1990s when Pell was archbishop of Melbourne.
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