George Pell was ‘out of the loop’ on decision-making in key abuse case: inquiry

By Dan Box
Australian
March 11, 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/george-pell-was-out-of-the-loop-on-decisionmaking-in-key-abuse-case-inquiry/story-e6frg6nf-1226851457708

CARDINAL George Pell was “completely out of the loop” during the running of a highly controversial legal case against him, which effectively established that the Catholic Church in Australia cannot be sued for child sex abuse committed by a priest.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard the former Archbishop of Sydney was given misleading information about the case, which was brought by a former Sydney altar boy, John Ellis.

The case was ultimately decided by the NSW Court of Appeal in 2007, which found that neither the archbishop nor the trustees of the archdiocese could be sued over abuse committed by a priest.

During a subsequent private meeting in 2009, Cardinal Pell apologised to Mr Ellis for the way the case was handled, saying he did not know Mr Ellis had previously offered to settle for a fraction of the amount the archdiocese ultimately spent on the case.

“I left the meeting with the impression that Cardinal Pell was completely out of the loop on all that decision-making,” Mr Ellis told the commission.

“I certainly left the meeting with the impression of a runaway train with nobody at the wheel.”

The commission has heard that Cardinal Pell believed Mr Ellis intended to sue the church for millions of dollars, rather than the $100,000 he initially claimed.

The church’s lawyers also pursued Mr Ellis for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs after the Appeal Court’s ruling, the commission heard, despite being warned he was traumatised and at risk of self-harm.

Cardinal Pell subsequently overturned this decision, and the Archdiocese of Sydney has since paid Mr Ellis over $800,000 in medical and other costs.