In his prison cell on the edge of Melbourne’s CBD sits a man convicted of serious sexual assault against two boys, awaiting sentence. 9News
Only they, the judge and the lawyers heard the evidence given by Pell's accuser. No one else has that information. And he must have been convincing, especially given the lack of corroborating evidence.The burden on the jury would have been enormous. One jury had already been discharged without being able to make a decision.
Most of the attention was on his counsel, Robert Richter QC. Over the years I have never seen a lawyer turn a trial the way he can. The man who convinced a jury that Mick Gatto was not guilty of murder when Benji Veniamin was shot is forensic in laying out his argument. He can be persuasive, and charming - and brutal in tearing apart unfriendly witnesses.Yet on Wednesday he was not convincing the judge.
Then the phrase he would later apologise for: describing sexual abuse of a 13-year-old choirboy as "vanilla sexual penetration".Yes, it was a way of speaking that lawyers might be used to. He meant there were no aggravating features of this attack, it wasn't as brutal as one which would demand a longer sentence.
And he added - perhaps for the benefit of some not in the courtroom but poised over their keyboards ready to strike: "The Catholic Church is not on trial. I am not imposing sentence on the church. I am imposing sentence on George Pell." So, put yourself in this position: you’re a journalist; you’ve got the verdict on one of the biggest scandals ever to hit the Catholic church, the highest-ranked member of that institution ever convicted on child sex charges anywhere in the world - and you can't whisper a word publicly.Which led to a scene on Christmas Eve, in my kitchen. Me, and a dear friend who happens to be a judge uninvolved in the Pell case.
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