CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
Sydney Morning Herald
March 10, 2020
By Chip Le Grand
The full bench of the High Court has set aside two days to hear the case of George Pell. If his lawyers are correct, the guilt, reputation and legacy of Australia’s most influential living clergyman will turn on six minutes.
In its final argument submitted in preparation for Wednesday’s hearing, Cardinal Pell’s legal team drew the court to the greatest doubt that lingers over Pell’s conviction for child sex offences.
When, after saying a Solemn Sunday Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral, would the archbishop of Melbourne find himself alone in the priests’ sacristy with two choirboys for the five to six minutes required to assault them?
And, when this grotesque abuse of trust was being perpetrated, where were the seven altar servers who, at the completion of the mass, file into the sacristy to bow to the crucifix?
These questions mean little to anyone unfamiliar with the arcane liturgical practices of the Catholic Church. They also go to the heart of the central issue before the High Court; whether it was open to the jury, on the whole of the evidence, to find Pell guilty.
The listing of the case in the cavernous Courtroom 1 of the High Court building in Canberra, indicates that all seven judges are presiding. There are three possible outcomes.
In November last year, the two most junior members of the bench, Justice James Edelman and Justice Michelle Gordon, referred a decision on special leave to the full bench. This means that, even though the court has cleared its calendar to deal with Pell, it hasn’t yet decided whether to grant leave.
The second is the court may grant leave and dismiss the appeal.
In either of these scenarios, Pell would remain a convicted child sex offender and serve the remainder of his minimum, three year and eight month prison sentence.
La Trobe University law professor Patrick Keyzer, a former associate to retired High Court chief justice Gerard Brennan, believes this is the most likely outcome.
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