Cardinal Pell ‘exposed Himself’ Claims Accuser

News.com.au
March 24, 2018

http://www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/cardinal-pell-exposed-himself-claims-accuser/news-story/3d874def858904cbcee6bffabe40c01a

CARDINAL George Pell “exposed himself” to a cathedral choir member while working as a bishop in Melbourne in the 1990s, a court has heard.

The sister of one of George Pell’s accusers told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday that her brother had broken down while revealing the alleged incident to her in 2012 or 2013.

Giving evidence at Mr Pell’s pre-trial hearing before Magistrate Belinda Wallington into alleged historical sexual offences, the woman said her brother was crying when he told her.

She said they had been drinking at their grandmother’s 80th birthday beforehand, and his claim related to an offence which allegedly had taken place about 16 years earlier.

They were in the back seat of a car driving home when he turned to her and said, “You don’t know what’s happened to me. The bishop exposed himself to me.”

When she asked her brother who he meant, he replied, “F***ing George Pell”.

The woman told the court the alleged offence had occurred at St Patricks Cathedral.

Cardinal Pell, 76, was the Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne from 1987, but by 1996 had been appointed the city’s Archbishop.

Catholic Cardinal George Pell arrives at the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week for the hearing into historical allegations. Picture: Luis Ascui.Source:AAP

Robert Richter, QC, asked a witness if she had made a story up about her brother accusing Cardinal Pell of exposing himself. Picture: Luis Ascui.Source:AAP

He has denied all charges alleged by multiple complainants which are before the committal hearing to determine whether he will go to trial.

Six of the historical charges are to be dropped after it was revealed last Friday one of the complainants was “medically unfit” to appear.

Mr Pell’s barrister Robert Richter QC asked that those charges be formally withdrawn, which will occur on Tuesday.

Mr Richter questioned the sister of the man who made the exposure claim on whether the alleged offence could have been made by a different bishop.

Mr Richter said the time of the alleged incident would have been when his client was already the Archbishop, and that the woman was telling “a story made up by you”.

The Archbishop at a 1998 Melbourne funeral.Source:News Limited

George Pell in 1996 as Melbourne’s new Archbishop.Source:News Corp Australia

The woman said her brother insisted the alleged perpetrator was Cardinal Pell.

“He said a bishop, said it was when he was in the choir, and that it was George Pell,” the woman said.

He also asked the witness how had two other occupants of the car at the time of the drunken conversation not heard it.

The woman said the car’s radio was on and the other two occupants were talking at the time.

The Melbourne court also heard the mother of another alleged victim of Cardinal Pell had withdrawn her consent for a 2016 interview she had been given to air on ABC TV.

The interview had been with journalist Louise Milligan, who had written a book about Cardinal Pell, the Australian reported.

Milligan, who has had her notes subpoenaed by the court, is due to appear before the hearing next week before the committal is schedules to finish up.

Cardinal George Pell (centre) leaves his home in The Vatican in Rome to hear if Victorian police would prosecute him. Picture: Ben Stevens.