Cardinal jailed for six years for ‘appalling’ abuse of choirboys
Australian Cardinal George Pell was on Wednesday sentenced to six years in prison for the “brazen” sexual abuse of two choirboys, in what the judge lambasted as a “grave” abuse of power, The Agence France-Presse reported.
The former Vatican number three — who managed church finances and helped elect two popes — was sentenced in a Melbourne court on five counts, including oral rape and molestation of boys in 1996 and 1997.
“In my view, your conduct was permeated by staggering arrogance,” Victoria state County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd said in handing down the sentence, cited by The Associated Press.
Kidd said the cardinal, with his “significant history of cardiac problems”, would be eligible for parole in late 2022, but acknowledged he “may not live to be released from prison”.
Wearing a black shirt without his usual white clerical collar, Pell sat largely impassively, hands interlaced on his lap, as Kidd graphically described his “brazen and forceful sexual attack on the two victims”.
He stood as a sentence well short of the maximum 50 years was set by Kidd, who cited Pell’s “otherwise blameless life”.
“You have effectively reformed,” Kidd said, noting the 22 years since the abuse. “You are not a risk to the community.”
Pell signed the sex offenders’ register before leaving the court in handcuffs for an undetermined facility.
The 77-year-old denies the allegations and will appeal his convictions in the Victoria Court of Appeal on June 5. It was not immediately clear if he will also appeal the sentence.
The prospect of further legal proceedings and the relatively short sentence tempered victims’ response to the news.
“There is no rest for me,” the victim named only as “J” said in a statement, read by his lawyer Vivian Waller.
“I appreciate that the court has acknowledged what was inflicted upon me as a child,” he said. “Everything is overshadowed by the forthcoming appeal.”
The father of the other victim, who died of a drug overdose in 2014, said through his lawyer that the length of Pell’s sentence was “disappointing”.
Pell was found guilty of cornering the two boys, who were on scholarships to the prestigious St. Kevin’s College.
The attack took place in the sacristy after Sunday mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in December 1996, when he was archbishop of Melbourne.
The boys had “nicked off” from the rest of the choral procession and were taking swigs of sacramental wine before the cardinal found them, opened his robe and sexually assaulted them.
“There is an added layer of degradation and humiliation that each of your victims must have felt in knowing that their abuse had been witnessed by the other,” AFP cited Kidd as saying.
The judge added that the attack, and another two months later in 1997, when he forced one of the boys up against the wall of a corridor and grabbed his genitals, had a “profound impact” on the lives of his victims.