Pell ‘instructed’ lawyers in abuse case, royal commission into abuse hears

By Dan Box
Australian
March 18, 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/pell-instructed-lawyers-in-abuse-case-royal-commission-into-abuse-hears/story-fngburq5-1226858087773

CARDINAL George Pell was closely involved in the handling of a controversial court case brought by a former altar boy who was sexually abused by a Sydney priest, the royal commission has heard.

The evidence, given this afternoon by one of the church’s lawyers, Paul McCann, appears to conflict with other evidence heard by the commission that the former Archbishop of Sydney had little or no role in the conduct of the case.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is investigating an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to sue the church made by the abuse victim, John Ellis, which was rejected by the NSW Supreme Court in 2007.

Mr McCann said he had been told “to defeat the litigation” and his instructions throughout the case came from Cardinal Pell’s private secretary, Michael Casey, with the apparent authorisation of the then-archbishop himself.

“I didn’t have any doubt that the Cardinal was being kept up-to-date on the developments in the case and it’s obvious from some of the exchanges that he was in fact seemingly giving instructions on various steps,” Mr McCann told the commission.

“All steps were with their knowledge and consent,” he said.

This account appears to conflict with that of Mr Ellis himself, who told the commission that Cardinal Pell apologised for the way the case was handled during a private meeting in he 2009, calling it “legal abuse”.

“I firmly believed that the Cardinal had no involvement in the decisions to pursue the litigation in the way it had been. I believed this because the Cardinal told me so face-to-face,” Mr Ellis told the commission.