Aussie Cardinal Pell faces two trials on sexual abuse charges
melbourne — Australian Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Vatican official to be charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis, will face two trials within months on sex crime allegations spanning decades, a court heard on Wednesday.
Pell appeared for an administrative first hearing in the Victoria state County Court where he will be tried after a magistrate on Tuesday decided he should face a jury but dismissed around half the charges the cleric had faced during a preliminary hearing in a lower court.
His lawyer Robert Richter said on Wednesday he had agreed with prosecutors to split the remaining charges into two trials.
The charges relating to Pell’s time as a priest in his hometown of Ballarat in the 1970s and those relating to his time as archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s were “of a completely different nature” and “separated by 20 years,” Richter told Judge Sue Pullen. Details of the charges and their number have not been made public.
Pell also wanted the first trial to start soon for several reasons, Richter said.
“Number one, my client is 76 years old and number two, everyone has to get on with their lives,” Richter said. Richter also noted that one of the witnesses was 80 years old. Pell has taken leave from his Vatican job as Pope Francis’ finance minister and plans to return to it once he is acquitted.
Prosecutor Mark Gibson anticipated the prosecution would need three months to compile its case, but later said estimate as “conservative,” meaning prosecutors could be ready sooner. Pullen said: “I do think three months is a little excessive.” —