last week the news that had been kept
secret for nearly three months finally
broke Australia's highest ranking
Catholic the man who rose to be the
Vatican's third most powerful cleric had
been convicted of sexual crimes against
two thirteen-year-old boys
a jury of 12 had found George Pell
guilty of five shocking offences which
all took place inside st. Patrick's
Cathedral
when Pell was Archbishop of Melbourne a
suppression order banning publication of
those convictions was lifted last week
after the crown decided to drop a second
trial against the Cardinal on separate
charges
he was a man that was so high up in the
hierarchy that he believed he was
untouchable but we believed that justice
wouldn't be served that we're just
wasting our time and effort
the credibility of the institutional
churches is an all-time low and this is
what is so devastating about this
conviction it just makes it worse for
watching his progression and she's
climbing within the Catholic Church
his name was regularly within the press
and every time pearls name was there a
very clear recollection of what he'd
been up to and what is you know yeah
just a dirty rotten sneaky conniving
bastard I've been following this case
for three years since I first met a
group of men who broke decades of
silence to reveal allegations of how
their innocence was stolen by Cardinal
George Pell when they were young boys
tonight on four corners the inside story
of how a prince of the church was
brought to justice
[Music]
it was 1996 and George Pell was the
newly installed Archbishop of Melbourne
the church was grappling with an
escalating scandal over clergy sexual
abuse of children and the Archdiocese of
Melbourne had more pedophile priests
than anywhere else in the country
Archbishop George Pell was in damage
control to lonely voices have suggested
that the Catholic Church here is in a
state of crisis they are badly mistaken
in October 1996 Pell launched the
Melbourne response the church's new
strategy for dealing with sexual abuse
victims but I do want to stress that
this is a genuine attempt to lessen the
sufferings of the victims and to lessen
the sufferings of their families I'm
hopeful that with further improvements
and refinements over time these
initiatives will go a long way towards
addressing this sad and deeply
regrettable issue this was the public
face of George Pell but only a few
months after that press conference we
now know that the archbishop was doing
exactly what his scheme was set up to
address sexually abusing children
this was the case put by the crown as
your honor pleases members of the jury
it's alleged in this case that on a
Sunday morning can the latter part of
1996 Archbishop George Pell as he was
then known was saying 11:00 a.m. mass at
some Patrick's Cathedral here in East
Melbourne as was customary during Sunday
Mass listen Patrick's Cathedral church
choir was singing accompanied by an
organist there were 61 boys in the choir
about half of them were Sopranos so The
Sopranos were like the younger children
and then there was the Altos which is
when your voice starts to break then you
turn in to attend an advice the higher
up you get you look after the little
boys you look after them and you're sort
of down any little kids you gotta show
them a bit of you know discipline no
don't do that do this but the end of the
day you still a child yourself but you
should always you know help them out
look after them
the choirboys were all on scholarships
to attend the nearby cent Kevin's
college in wealthy charac andrew la
greca was one of the older boys in the
choir it was a big deal it was a big
deal and for a northern boy to sort of
go all the way to tour a key was
prestige and it was quite an achievement
that your parents were proud of you you
were proud of and to say that I went to
school at st. Kevin's which is a
prestigious school lots of opportunities
he says George Pell was often there when
the boys practiced was just George Pell
the archbishop the priest that lives at
the church he came to visit us we didn't
know if he lived there live somewhere
else but we just assumed because it's
the archbishop he lives at the church
and used to be around listening to the
choir coming pastor say hello say thank
you we thought of it as a mark of
respect that he used to take notice of
us on the day of the incident the choir
had just finished singing and filed out
of st. Patrick's in procession you're
singing the masses finish everyone still
standing around just watching you sing
and then they run cups as soon as the
carols finish and it's it's like playing
a game of football and you score the
winning goal everyone's just clapping
and cheering yawn it was a sense of
achievement sense of gratitude two of
the boys left the rest of the group both
boys took the opportunity to have some
fun to be naughty mischievous kids they
slipped away from the procession once
the procession was outside the cathedral
and away from the public gaze once
inside the Cathedral this is after Mass
they then entered an unlocked door and
walked down a corridor that led down to
the sacristy it's a big church there's
lots of space anyone can get lost
there's 60 kids and there was never if
someone was missing you wouldn't be able
to tell because everyone would just
hurry up get change let's go home the
two boys were swinging from the altar
wine when George Pell caught them in the
act
Pelle asked the boys what are you doing
here and told them that they were in
trouble
Pelle approached the two boys he then
proceeded to maneuver his robes so as to
pull out his penis he pulled the first
boy aside and had him crouched in front
of him Pelle was standing at this time
the boy asked to be let go as they
hadn't done anything wrong
Pelle had his hand on the back of the
boy's head and his other hand at his own
genital area the other boys saw the
first boy's head being lowered towards
the genital area of Pelle when he'd
finished with the first boy George Pell
moved on to the second it's alleged that
Pelle was standing and he pushed the
other boy down to a position where he
was crouching or kneeling the boy was
then pushed onto Pels erect penis so
that the penis was in his mouth this act
of fellatio or oral sex lasted for a
short period which the boy estimates to
be a couple of minutes you'll hear that
Pelle then stopped and told the boy to
remove his pants the boy stood upright
and pulled down or dropped his pants and
his underwear in accordance with the
instruction Pelle then lowered his
position so as to be almost crouched on
his knees Pelle then started touching
the boys - Natalya
while touching the boys genitalia Pell
was touching his own genitalia after a
couple of minutes Pell finished and
stood up
[Music]
no the little boys so to think that this
happened to the little boys for it to
happen to the little boys is just
they preach about God I preach about
love loved our neighbor and that's they
took away lives took away innocence
that's not love
questions your belief in a church it's
like all your life you brought up that
church is God and love but if the
churches is there's no love what's your
view about George Pell what sort of
person is he
it's only a monster I couldn't describe
someone like that
after the incident the choirboys went
home one of them later told the court he
didn't tell anyone the boy didn't say
anything at the time about what had
happened because he didn't want to
jeopardize his scholarship in any way he
was also cognizant of the position held
by the accused man and the possible
ramifications that might flow from
saying something about what happened
about a month later George Pell
approached the second boy again in a
back corridor of the Cathedral it's
alleged that the accused man Pell pushed
the boy against the wall he then
squeezed the boy's genitals over his
robes before letting go and walking off
the events in the cathedral would change
the course of their lives the identities
of the two thirteen-year-old victims and
their families can't be revealed but the
family of the first choirboy wants to
tell his story
he went from being this a lovely boy who
used to come to the football with me who
used to go and help his grandparents and
helped around the house to this boy who
kept on wanting to go out all the time
his whole being just it was a different
boy just totally different just didn't
care about anything didn't care about
anyone just didn't want to be too brief
like you'd see him on the trainings like
here you go that's it but deep down you
think that while you're rebelling so
much like what is it that you hate like
you could sense that there was a bit of
hate there for authority
will came back as a person he changed he
did he wasn't the same person as what he
was beforehand yeah and and it changed
so much that his life really this bar oh
yeah they did spot absolutely absolutely
within a year of the abuse their son
began to use heroin he started yes I
noticed some bits of foil that had been
burnt and I noticed that my parents
noticed that his grandparents he was
pretty young at this stage yes he was he
was how old he would have been about 13
14 at the time yeah yeah very young at
the time very young it's devastating to
watch your child like that because of
his drug use it was very hard to watch
at 14 he would spend nights where we
wouldn't see him it would disappear for
a day or two and then turn up as though
nothing had happened
he's a schooling of course became
erratic his attendance he was at the
point where the choirmaster was going to
expel him it meant that he would lose
his scholarship and we would then have
to pay and we didn't have the thousands
of dollars that were required to keeping
them
[Music]
his mother suspected her son might have
been abused I once asked him if he was
can't exactly remember the words on his
whether is touched up or plied with and
he told me no but again with a shrug
again little niggling in there I never
said anything to anybody
little niggling out thinking whoo yeah
all right
he said not and then a while after that
again I asked him and again he told me
not and then I get this and I was just
so angry with him for not telling me so
angry something I'm still very angry
[Music]
their son died of a heroin overdose in
2014 he took his secret about George
Pell to his grave
but don't tell a lot of people have you
passed away I tell part of the truth but
not all of it because I don't want
sympathy I don't want the pity it's very
hard to explain to people that I'm a
rather struggle for half his life with
drug abuse problem and it's very hard
you know I have never told anybody
it's devastating because he helps to
explain a lot of incidents in his life
and it is it's devastating it is it's
hard when you think a child can't come
out and say this has happened because my
songs are not believed I would like to
think I would have believed myself yeah
I would have bled myself it must be a
really hard thing as a dad to
contemplate it's the worst it's the
worst
I used to think when when you dice to
think what a waste of life you know 31
years old and you did what a waste of a
life
the young man's death had a terrible
impact on the other choir boy who was
also abused by George Pell after the
funeral the other boy finally told his
own mother that he had been abused she
rang Bernhard Barrett at the victims
group broken rights I answered the phone
and she explained that her son who was a
former choir boy he was very upset
because he'd had a troubled life since
his teens and he was telling her for the
first time at the age of 30 that having
been abused by a priest later Bernhard
Barrett spoke to the second choir boy he
told me that when he was a choir boy at
the mill Boca cedral one day he was
sexually abused by a prominent person in
in one of the rooms of the Cathedral
who was that prominent well he gave the
name asked Bishop Hill
and that's how this investigation into
Cardinal George Pell began when you get
a figure like that he's a high highest
ranked Catholic in Australia he's a high
position in the Vatican we obviously had
to treat things very seriously in
relation to how we conducted the
investigation to make sure that all the
boxes were ticked as far as not letting
information out we had to be very
secretive in relation to making sure
that this wasn't put out into the public
arena Doug Smith oversaw the
investigation when it started through
your work with Task Force on oh and
Victoria police had had a lot of
experience with these Catholic Church
perpetrators how did you find the
Catholic Church in dealing with them in
these cases they were very difficult to
deal with they would say that they
wanted to cooperate with the police in
relation to all these allegations and
and they openly saying that they would
cooperate but I'd think you could almost
say that the way that they classed their
cooperation would be similar to a
protester laying on the ground in the
middle of the street not resisting the
place but the police would have to pick
that person up and drag them off the
street and I think that that's the level
of cooperation that the Catholic Church
gave us
the police investigation into Pell
widened new claims were made about
alleged abuse in the 1970s at the Eureka
Stockade pool in George pals home town
of Ballarat Damien Dignan was 8 years
old at the time
in 2015 he made a complaint to police we
spoke to him the following year
fight the pelvis all their Apetit being
sort of around he's chest height there
and we love to pick the kids up and
throw him over his shoulder
they'll throw him up in the air it's
like you have to splash so things got a
bit rough so what happened around
chesties brand the owners what would he
do grab you how did it make you feel
scared oh so scared but hurt very
forceful raining the areas could there
ever be an interpretation that it just
so happened that his hands weren't
slipped down there you know Obama steak
I'm fair enough
one time my septum stage where have you
told Pete drop those there and not much
fun no kid he has a pool
Damon Dignan said he was terrified of
pill probably today I've even looked at
him I'll be still scared little boy
don't get me wrong I believed in the
Catholic Church I do I believe in Jesus
I believe in God that man is evil and he
should not be there should not be their
ways
he's got sickness and he told us about
allegations that had to happen against
his other person and that person was
Lyndon Monument that's correct yes yeah
Lyndon monument described playing the
same game with George Pell in the pool
well it was you know he's hand touching
her genitals and stuff on that side of
you by the sword shorts and then
slightly behind and they on the front of
the pants or he spiders or whatever you
call under the water under the water
linden monument told police that pail
would then invite him into the change
rooms
he'd undress and then he'd say to us to
undress so we don't dress em and then he
had a tail he did make sure you walked
under your testicles and all that sort
of stuff and while he was doing this was
he wearing clothes no
ballarat local film Nagel said he also
saw hell in the change rooms well she
was kids pretty discreetly in the corner
because we didn't want to say our
doodles and where's little kids
tapped me on the sidewalk around and
there was some young Cardinal Pell um
stark naked and he was actually had his
tailor and he's drawing his back and
there was no discretion at all so he's
actually the first adult male ever saw
naked I didn't like him but because of
the if it was a church and just he was
George Powell we just you just weren't
going to ever say anything you know one
of mine so I just try not to think about
it it's been honest
Lynden and damian went to primary school
at bala rats epicenter of abuse st.
Alypius wear a ring of pedophile
christian brothers and a priest abused
dozens of children George Pell lived in
the st. Alypius presbytery at the same
time as the notorious child abuser
father Gerald Ridsdale
both Linden and Damien told police they
were also abused by teachers at the
school
Linden's brother was one of many st.
Eligius pupils who later suicided that's
why I talk to drugs just one for all
there and then still to this day on out
sounds horrible and I'd never hurt
myself because a lot of my family my
kids but I really walk Lydon oh I'm okay
don't care if I get hit by a bus
but I'd never do anything to hurt the
kids I just cut back on them
good my conference can't talk
and you'll never talk you feel ashamed
and yeah and as far as you asked me how
to fix me mentally ruin the life
roars fees I was very angry
I grabbed an angry young boy I took a
lot of my anger and my self
self-destruction and now the people who
cared about me and loved me
Damon Dignan had a drinking problem and
he developed leukemia police laid
charges in relation to his alleged abuse
but they were dropped when he died in
January 2017 he was 47
he told me he was always proud of coming
forward
[Music]
six months after the Ballarat men went
to police another man came forward Liz
Hayek told police that in the mid-1980s
he saw Pell in the change rooms at the
Torquay Life Saving Club
we're not walked in i saw a fellow there
crisscrossing across the back telling
yourself off and there was three young
kids about eight to ten years of age
they were about to two meters across
from him also getting changed I went
into the shower and I would have been in
the showers for probably five to ten
minutes when I came out this fellow was
facing the boys with the towel over the
over his right shoulder and I thought
that to be a very odd situation is here
I was in the shower he had not got
dressed he was facing the boys and I
thought then immediately there's
something not right here
I said to the boys if you finished off
you go
was seeing in some other time and I said
to this fellow George I know what you're
up to get dressed piss off and don't
come back to this club again if I see
you back here I'll call the police
and George was George pal George was
George pal so what you're saying is that
you thought that George pal was exposing
himself to those boys absolutely
absolutely I have no doubt whatsoever
lest Hayek was inspired to speak up when
the Royal Commission into institutional
responses to child abuse began sitting
Apelles name kept on coming up I felt
that that was the time that maybe I
should put my statement into the police
as to what had happened because if they
were forming some dossier on Pell it
might might be some sort of backup and
just another example of what what this
man was up to I had no no b5 was not a
victim I had no nothing against the
Catholic Church but this was a situation
that did disturb me greatly in October
2016 Victoria police made the decision
to quietly fly to Rome to interview
George Pell
there would have been some level of
secrecy that would have been required
for that to happen three people went
over there to interview and that
obviously would have been with the
cooperation of the Catholic Church and
George Pell would have agreed to the
interview taking place
kind of meld you grow this long is near
1020 outside their address my name is
George Hill and I live at number one the
absolute Italia Nina in Rome
thank you that counter today tried
sending to your election to the
Victorian Australian defense's opening
dates assault upon my only tasted acting
presence of child under 16 years before
we continue I must inform you that you
do not have to say or do anything that
anything you say or do it might be given
in evidence
do you understand that I do the Cardinal
started his interview with a statement
I volunteered to take part in this
interview because as I understand
allegations made immense against me
going back decades made in vague and
imprecise ly defined circumstances and
timeframes so that it's practically
impossible to demonstrate a negative
unless I'm given sufficient details to
enable me to search the past and show
them to be wrong I have to rely on the
law and my conscience which say that I'm
innocent
and I have to rely on the integrity of
of investigators not setting up to make
a case but actually searching for the
truth which is some specifics on this
occasion what's been alleged is that
it's aftermath for Sunday at my front
[Laughter]
towards the back towards the rogue
England that the quality is lost when
they started poking around in various
rooms they came across on
as I said our parking around which is
the tenth of Z was that's unfortunate
boy was I tell you what do you do when a
nice parent I take it to base if I were
looking as though the next is the
you've planted something that a spot
tightening the base two boys on the
doorway in this actually will pop to
Sunday Mass yes it's bad in effect
prevented it from waiting over now the
boys need our favorite rum and
that at that time you've moved your
robes to one side and expose your penis
while still that they stay standing and
get back to the door what they would
have absolutely disgraceful rubbish
matters
there are all sorts of people used to
come to the secretary to speak to the
priest is the sacristans are around the
author service were around they should
be on their way to change the investment
yes
now explain unless did you step forward
grab by the baby's head and forced his
head down onto your penis
in the sacristy after been hit
completely false
this is gone on for sure period on
before like another same instance forces
hit their audience
of completely false data communist I
don't continue on places fine
the boys of tear part of the side and
Spanish drug that's holding you're
holding on with two hands on the back of
his head before stopping at which time
he stood that staying deciding their
lives that you then said take off your
pants
and you stepped up to help down started
to fumble explain us and less about
yourself at the same time
this is in the sacristy at the Cathedral
after Sunday Mass what need i say any
more
what load of garbage and poulsen and
deranged falsely good morning on June 29
2017 Victoria Police made a historic
announcement today Victoria police have
charged Cardinal George Pell with
historical sexual assault offences
Cardinal Pell has been charged on
summons and he's required to appear at
the Melbourne Magistrates Court on the
18th of July this year for a filing
hearing the charges were today served on
Cardinal Pels legal representatives in
Melbourne and they've been lodged also
at the Melbourne Magistrates Court
Cardinal Pell is facing multiple charges
in respective storage sexual offences
and there are multiple complainants
relating to those charges I'm not in a
position to take any questions here this
morning and I'm moving forward Victoria
police won't be making any further
comments in respect to this matter
good morning to you walls I want to say
one or two brief words about my
situation these matters have been under
investigation and now for two years
there have been leaks to the media
there have been there's been relentless
character assassination a relentless
character assassination and for more
than a month claims that a decision on
whether to lay charges was imminent I'm
looking forward finally to having my day
in court I'm innocent of these charges
[Music]
they are false the whole idea of sexual
abuse is abhorrent to me thank you all
very much for coming
George Pell flew back to Australia so
began a grueling 20 month court drama
the case depended on the testimony of
the sole surviving choirboy who'd been
abused by Pell in the cathedral andrew
la greca
also gave evidence in the Pell court
proceedings I was vigorously questioned
and I was a witness so I could imagine
how much how much how strenuous the
questioning would be questioning every
thought and every movement he did back
then let alone the stress that he would
be under and now it's coming back to
haunt him I could just imagine the
stress and pain he went through just in
that trial even as a policeman who goes
through court proceedings a lot you feel
very uncomfortable because it's almost
in a threatening way
I mean it's threatening with word
that's questioning your truthfulness its
questioning your character and a
policeman can walk away at the end of
the day and think oh that was difficult
but when it comes from a complainant or
a victim's point of view I mean it can
be devastating to them to be called a
liar
in May 2017 Pell was committed to trial
by a magistrate
[Music]
the public remained entirely in the dark
about what Pelle was being tried for how
many complainants were involved and how
many charges he faced the Cathedral
trial was held entirely in secret the
Office of Public Prosecutions wanted to
eliminate any argument by the defense
that the Cardinal couldn't get a fair
trial Pelle went to trial in August last
year but that resulted in a hung jury in
December in a retrial
the jury found George Pell guilty of all
five charges against the two choir boys
they included one count of sexual
penetration of a child and four of
indecent acts with a child or in the
presence of a child he was in a position
of trust he was trusted and yet he does
this sort of thing has been you know
been proven in court that he did we have
to say that and myself I'm just
disgusted I'm disgusted in the Catholic
Church what does it say about the
Catholic Church it's lit people down and
let my son down it must be a huge
mountain to climb for the place for sure
they've been nothing but professional
they've gone through some painstaking
investigations leading up to getting
statements putting everything together
to support a conviction beyond
reasonable doubt for someone like a
cardinal of the Catholic Church I mean
they have they've done a fantastic job
and they can certainly hold their heads
up high
at the time of his conviction Pell was
facing a separate trial on the
allegations of abuse at the Ballarat
pool the news was suppressed so as not
to taint the jury in the second trial
last week the Ballarat Poole trial was
abandoned because some key evidence was
ruled inadmissible as a result of that
decision finally the veil of secrecy was
lifted it can now be revealed that
Australia's most senior Catholic
Cardinal George Pell has been convicted
of sexually abusing two choir boys in
1996 when he was Archbishop of Melbourne
I was devastated Cardinal George Pell
has always been such a personification
of the church in the public life of
Australia and to get to a point where
he's convicted for these sorts of crimes
in a sense is a conviction more broadly
about the Catholic Church it's it's
culture that has led to this despite
having brought the third most powerful
Catholic in the world to justice the man
who was the thirteen-year-old choir boy
just wants to be left alone
[Music]
my clients had a very long journey the
criminal process has been quite
stressful for him and it's not over yet
like many survivors my client has
experienced depression loneliness
struggle with various issues over time
and one common feature that we often see
in doing this kind of work is people
feel that they have trusted somebody who
they should have feared when they're a
child and that it has long-term impacts
on their relationships for the rest of
their life and it can be difficult for
survivors to trust those people who are
genuine and should be trusted he feels
that he trusted someone he should have
feared he's a credit to himself and he
needs to be congratulated because he has
done a he's done a very very good job at
being believed I mean he can all he can
do is tell the truth he can't do any
more than that and for a jury of his
peers to believe him
the minutes of it's fantastic just he's
he's a hero I think deep down he wasn't
just doing it for himself
deep down he was doing it for someone
else as well there's someone else who
wasn't here yeah
cardinal pell what's your response to
the charges you're guilty cancel EP
county court chief judge paid a kid
described pearls crimes as callous
brazen offending he exploited two
vulnerable boys and there was an element
of force there was an element of
brutality to this assault it was an
attack George Pell maintains his
innocence and is appealing a 77 year old
man who once cast an enormous shadow
over the Australian Church and culture
is now in jail awaiting sentence there's
probably going to be millions of people
out there who will look at it and think
how important it is that no one's above
the law the Catholic Church isn't above
the law a lot of times the system
doesn't work but this time the system
has worked and there's going to be a lot
of people who are gonna benefit from
that