Convicted paedophile George Pell will make one final bid for freedom, deciding to take his child sex abuse conviction to the High Court.
According to reports tonight, the disgraced Cardinal has instructed his legal team to push forward with a last-ditch effort to clear his name.
The Sydney Morning Herald cites sources as saying a formal application will be lodged for special leave to appeal to the High Court. It’s likely a hearing to determine whether the case will be heard will take place by the end of the year.
The 78-year-old has his appeal rejected by Victoria’s Supreme Court on Wednesday by a majority of two-to-one.
“He will continue to serve his sentence of six years’ imprisonment,” Chief Justice Anne Ferguson said.
“He will remain eligible to apply for parole after he has served three years and eight months of the sentence.”
He was convicted in December last year of sexually abusing two choirboys at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in 1996.
But the SMH reports that Pell has received legal advice that the one dissenting opinion gives grounds to have the convictions overturned.
The strongly worded dissent of Justice Mark Weinberg expressed the former Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution’s “genuine doubt as to the applicant’s guilt”.
The jury was required to find Pell guilty “beyond reasonable doubt” and after reviewing the evidence, Justice Weinberg thought there was a “significant possibility” Pell may not have committed the offences.
“My doubt is a doubt which the jury ought also to have had,” he wrote.
Justice Weinberg suggested there was a significant amount of evidence that cast serious doubt on the complainant’s story, in relation to both its credibility and reliability.
He said there were “inconsistencies, and discrepancies, and a number of his answers simply made no sense”.
One example of this was the fact that the complainant did not remember there were rehearsals for the choir after mass on the two days that the abuse likely occurred. The rehearsals did not easily fit with the movements of the boys.
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The complainant was also unsure if Pell had said mass that day or was leading mass. He didn’t know where his friend (who Pell also attacked) was during the procession out of St Patrick’s Cathedral or when exactly they broke away from the rest of the group.
His first specific memory of the first incident of abuse was being in the priests’ sacristy where Pell forced the complainant’s mouth on to his penis. He also saw Pell force his friend’s head towards his groin.
Originally the complainant said he couldn’t remember how they rejoined the rest of the choir but his memory came to be improved when he gave evidence at the trial.
Justice Weinburg also notes the complainant said Pell had “pulled aside his robe” but after being shown that the alb did not have any openings, he suggested that it may have been pulled up first.
RELATED: George Pell’s defence torn to shreds by judges
The second incident, which took place in a hallway, was initially said to have occurred while the choir was processing after mass but the complainant later said this may not have been the case. He also said he did not think it took place “in view of anyone” but later accepted there were “some people around in the hallway”.
Justice Weinburg said he didn’t find the complainant’s evidence “so compelling” that he should put aside all the other factors that point to his story being unreliable.
Within hours of the appeal being rejected, Pell’s lawyers indicated they were likely to take the matter to the High Court.
However, there is no guarantee the High Court will hear the case at all, as certain legal requirements must be met for that to happen.
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