Multiple trials possible over Pell contempt case
There may be multiple trials involving prominent news editors and journalists as they face contempt of court charges, the likes of which have never been seen in Australia’s legal history.
Thirty-six media outlets, editors and journalists, including staff at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, could face prison over allegations they breached a suppression order in reports published after Cardinal George Pell was convicted of child sex abuse charges.
The Supreme Court in Melbourne heard yesterday that there had never been a case of its kind involving contempt charges of this nature.
‘‘The proceedings raise very serious allegations against 13 media organisations. It’s as significant as it gets in terms of convictions,’’ said barrister Matthew Collins, QC, who is representing the media.
‘‘These are not garden variety contempt [charges].
‘‘We can find no precedent for charges of this kind in Australian law ...
‘‘But these respondents are not fringe players, they’re mainstream players. They have no history of deliberately breaching orders of the court.’’
Editors of The Age, The Herald Sun, The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and the Australian Financial Review have been charged with contempt of court relating to stories that were published on December 13 last year, two days after Pell was found guilty of sexually abusing two choirboys.
The Age Company and its owner, Nine Entertainment, The Herald and Weekly Times and Nationwide News, the publisher of The Daily Telegraph, have also been charged.
Australian media were prevented from naming Pell in reports last year due to a suppression order, which was put in place to ensure Pell received a fair subsequent trial on other allegations.
County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd lifted the suppression order in February, when prosecutors confirmed the second trial wouldn’t go ahead. Judge Kidd’s ruling then allowed media to report Pell’s guilt and details of the trial.
Pell, 77, was last month jailed for six years. His appeal against his conviction will be heard in early June.
The Office of Public Prosecutions alleges the media organisations and individuals prejudiced and interfered with ‘‘due administration of justice in the prosecution of Pell’’, ‘‘aided and abetted overseas media’s contempt’’, and that their publishing ‘‘had the effect of scandalising the court’’.
Collins, who is the president of the Victorian Bar, said the offence of aiding and abetting overseas media to commit a contempt of court was ‘‘unknown to the law’’.
He told the court none of the publications or broadcasters either named Cardinal Pell or identified the charges of which he was found guilty.
He also argued the OPP had not laid out specific allegations against the many journalists involved and could not show how they allegedly aided and abetted overseas media.
Justice John Dixon agreed the allegations should be itemised more clearly.
‘‘This should be spelt out in more specificity – does this involve one trial or 36 trials, or something in between?’’ he said.
‘‘It may well be that they’ll split into groups in filing defences.’’
Australian media were put on notice by the OPP in the days after Pell was found guilty, over reports that broadly referred to the case but didn’t name the cardinal.
The matter is due to return to court on June 26. – Nine