Already in december, the jury George Pell guilty of sexual assault against two thirteen year old boys in St Patrick’s cathedral in Melbourne in 1996, but the first on Tuesday was the judgment of the public. He is sentenced for a case of sexual intercourse with a minor and four cases of ”lewd acts” with or in the presence of, children under the age of 16.
who accused Pell of the abuse went to the police the first time in 2015, twenty years after the abuse took place. His identity has been kept secret during the trial and his testimony given behind closed doors, but in connection with the judgment became parts of a man’s testimony available.
Then, in the middle of the 1990s went the boy at a prestigious catholic boyschool in Melbourne and sang in St. Patrick’s cathedral in Melbourne as part of the school’s music program. One Sunday, after he sung during the morning service batter he and a friend into the sacristy.
”We were just mischievous kids who wanted to check around”, he should have told you during the trial, according to the news channel ABC.
then the archbishop of Melbourne and came on the boys in the sacristy when they tasted nattvardsvinet. They asked that Pell would let them go but instead he forced them to perform oral sex, fondled them and masturbated in front of them.
The former korgossen told how he rushed to dress himself and go from there. Several months later abused the Pell on him again when he after the service pushed him up against a wall and took him.
”I never thought to tell anyone. I was afraid that I would not get to go to school. And what would I do if I said something like that about the archbishop?”
kept the incident secret had his friend die of an overdose.
Then the judgment fell, Pell has been free on bail but after today’s verdict, he was taken to custody for the punishment determined in the next week. Few believed that the court case against Pell, would result in a conviction.
Previously, the trial was terminated after a unanimous jury. Given the George Pells of the power and his very experienced lawyers, there were few who thought today’s judgment would ever become a reality.
George Pell maintains that he is innocent and has appealed against the judgment.
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