Cardinal Pell’s final appeal
comes before Australia’s High Court
 |
| Cardinal George Pell |
All seven members of Australia’s High Court hears arguments
presented by Cardinal Pell’s legal team regarding historical sexual assault
offenses involving minors.
By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp
Cardinal Pell’s legal team presented arguments on Wednesday
in his final appeal before Australia’s High Court. All seven members of the
court were present. Cardinal Pell is appealing charges that he assaulted two
minors in the sacristy of the Cathedral in Melbourne in 1996.
High Court hears arguments
All seven members of Australia's High Court heard arguments
both in favour of and against the reversal of Cardinal Pell's guilty verdict.
On Thursday, the judges announced that they are reserving judgment. In
addition, they have requested other information in writing to be submitted
within two days time by the legal teams representing both parties. The High
Court will take this information into consideration prior to delivering their
decision regarding whether they will grant Cardinal Pell's request to appeal.
Summary of legal process.
Two justices of the High Court had announced on 13 November
2019 that they were referring Cardinal Pell’s request for appeal to all seven
members of the court. Previously, in August 2019, the Supreme Court of the
Australian State of Victoria had denied Cardinal Pell’s first appeal of a
guilty verdict announced by Victoria’s County Court in February 2019. Since the
announcement of his sentence in March 2019, Cardinal Pell has been serving a
6-year prison sentence.
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