Pell convicted.

On two charges of molesting choir boys.

 

Did you see that it can't be reported in Victoria?

 

Can't be reported in Australia. That is why I have posted it here.

 

Yeah, it’s strange that it is banned from reporting on now there is a conviction anyway!

 

Not surprised, not surprised at all.
I could see it in his eyes, he was guilty and he knew it.....
Scott Morrison wants to rewrite the book when it comes to religious freedom, just in time so it seems.
More freedom to pastors and cardinals?
We have to wait and see....
Reg.

 

Tony Abbott must be peeved. "A Royal Commssion into institutional responses to child sex abuse will turn into a witch hunt of the Catholic Church".

 

It was suppresed because other charges are to be heard in the first quarter next year. The suppression was meant to ensure that trial was not prejudiced, but of course, all of Australia now knows Pell has been convicted.

 

Yeah, that makes sense. I haven’t come across a general conversation about it in my circles though.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bc13e0b1cd67

 

The Barbara Streisand effect... the more you try to hide it the more people talk about it

 

I do wonder whether the current religious freedom/rights discussion by our government has anything to do with it, trying to hide the facts?
And it must be said it is not good enough to learn this story through an american news channel.
Reg.

 

Agree. I think the old religious influences are still at work behind the scenes.
It's not just the Catholics and the Prods now, we also have the Mormons muscling in.

 

The reason for suppression is not unusual, it's based on the need to ensure that a defendant's trial is not prejudiced by the knowledge of previous convictions. Particularly in jury trials the defendant must be seen as a cleanskin because if the jury knows of previous convictions they may allow that knowledge to shade their decision-making on the current facts in issue. There are some instances where such evidence can be introduced and it's usually where the defence claims good character and the prosecution can introduce rebuttal evidence. There's also the doctrine of similar fact evidence where the facts of a case involving the defendant are so similar that they can be introduced to demonstrate the defendant did it. That's been pared down considerably though, the HCA (Murphy J.) limited it in the case of Emily Perry.
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news...n/news-story/ca923a3a64cba10725bac5e90346dbd7

I knew the two investigators on this case, both of them straight shooters. Both of them disgusted she got away with it.

 

And now we have it black on white,
Pell convicted, and Howard and Abbott still lenient towards him.
God how I love those frickin conservative Liberals.....
Someone please telling me that anything good comes from any religion?
Reg.

 

The revolting scum is going to appeal, presumably that gets it away from a jury and safely back in the hands of his establishment friends?
https://www.theguardian.com/austral...inning-appeal-against-convictions-expert-says

 

Yeap,

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/aust...g-pell/ar-BBUbgXq?li=AAgfYrC&ocid=mailsignout

It is so disgusting, I could throw up all the time, all this scum....
Reg.

 

Just been reading up on this, cannot decide who is the most disgusting Pell or the Murdoch press who are actively supporting a convicted paedophile. It is astonishing they are challenging the Australian justice system because to quote that Devine woman she "knows him slightly and admires him greatly"! She admires a convicted pedo!

 

That's because it goes far further than just the church - far further. Call it 'damage limitation'? The idea is to let the dust settle so that all the other disgusting perverts can carry on where they left off. This bloke Pell is merely a sacrifice because he was found out, so they're putting on a big show of making an example of him.

 

The matter isn't finished yet. Cardinal (until further notice) Pell's lawyers have lodged an appeal - which will have to be heard before the outcome is final. So for better or worse he could still escape conviction. And since I am not familiar enough with the brief of evidence/facts against him to judge I try not to have an opinion either way.

One thing is certain however. Guilty or not Pell has done himself no favors since the issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Australia gained public traction. Almost from day one he has presented in public as being cold, unsympathetic and legalistic in his dealings with the victims of abuse. In essence he has presented himself in a manner which is totally at odds with the empathic, supportive and loving demeanor the general public (rightly or wrongly) expect priests to demonstrate.

Perhaps in person he is the opposite of all this, I don't know. Even if this is true it doesn't really matter now, the man has done just about everything possible to make himself unpopular in Australia. In terms of his public reputation he has reaped what he has sown, regardless of whether or not his conviction stands.

 

As I understand it the man is a convicted paedophile and is now in jail.

 

True, but an appeal has been lodged. If this appeal is successful he not only walks, he will have been found to have been not guilty (barring grounds for a re-trial and that is rare occurrence). Which is not the same thing as saying he did or didn't do it (he well could have), it just means that it couldn't be proven beyond 'reasonable' doubt.

 

Everyone can appeal any verdict until such time as he wins in a court of law he is a convicted paedophile.

 

Yes but release on appeal (as opposed to re-trial) is the worst possible outcome for all concerned (even Pell). The victims will have had their chance for restitution torn away and Pell, while free will go from 'his Eminence' to 'that pedophile' for the rest of his life regardless of being found innocent.

 

Personally in my opinion, there isn't a Catholic Priest, Nun or elder that isn't guilty to some degree of being involved in the process. Actually it could extend to other denominations as well.

When I was young there were rumors and jokes about choir boys and all this moving priests around must have raised questions.

 

Even in my own family an uncle told me he knew of a group of nuns who had “kept records” that would one day bring horrific stories to light

But it remains amazing what people will forgive in the name of politics and religion

I started a thread in the abortion forum about a case of an 11 year old in Argentina who was raped by her 65 year old “grandfather” and there are more than one poster on that thread blaming her for the rape