Sexual Abuse Survivor Will Challenge George Pell at Royal Commission

By Melissa Cunningham
The Courier
June 22, 2015

http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/3162988/claims-ignored-by-pell/

A BALLARAT clergy sexual abuse survivor says he was targeted by perpetrators due to his disability and claims Cardinal George Pell ignored his pleas for help.

Paul Lyons who is profoundly deaf told The Courier he will submit a witness statement to challenge the senior Catholic at the second round of Royal Commission hearings later this year.

Mr Lyons said he had been inspired by the strength of other survivors to go public.

Mr Lyons will allege Cardinal Pell was present when he told another priest he had been brutally raped by Christian brother teacher Robert Best, aged 9, at St Alipius in Ballarat East.

Cardinal Pell said he was studying at Oxford at the time the rape.

Mr Lyons said he sought help from his parents after the attack in 1969. They rejected his claims spurring him to visit the presbytery.

Mr Lyons said he attempted to tell Cardinal Pell, then a young priest, about the incident but was directed by him to tell another priest.

"He (Cardinal Pell) was standing there with his arms folded listening to what I was saying," Mr Lyons said. "After I had finished he walked away."

Mr Lyons said the other priest was more concerned about whether he had told his parents rather than the allegations.

He said the priest threatened to kill him if he told anyone.

"I walked away petrified, confused.. fearing for my life," Mr Lyons said. "I really believed that the priest would kill me."

He said convicted paedophile Gerald Risdale, who was also living at the presbytery at the time, walked in during the alleged conversation.

Mr Lyons said Risdale's presence "rattled" him because he had been raped by him before.

He claimed he was repeatedly targeted by priests due to his hearing impairment.

Months later, he said he was raped by another priest in Warrnambool during a holiday with his grandmother.

Mr Lyons claimed he told a Christian Brother teacher he was raped by Best but was repeatedly beaten with a wooden walking stick until he said "nothing happened."

Best was jailed in 2011 for 14 years and nine months for crimes against Mr Lyons and ten other boys.