Pell s lawyers glossed over evidence 20200201 p5xkhf.html – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Pell's lawyers 'glossed over' evidence

AAP

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Pedophile George Pell's lawyers have been accused of disregarding key evidence as the disgraced cardinal fights to overturn his child sex abuse convictions.

He wants Australia's highest court to hear an appeal against his convictions for raping a choirboy and sexually assaulting another at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996, after they were upheld by Victoria's Court of Appeal.

But in a submission to the High Court released on Friday, Victoria's Director of Public Prosecutions says Pell's legal team overlooks evidence related to the surviving victim's credibility.

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"(Pell's legal team) glosses over evidence supportive of the account of the complainant," the document read.

Pell is the most senior Catholic cleric to be jailed for sexually abusing children after being handed a maximum six-year sentence in March 2019.

But the High Court has agreed to hear the 78-year-old's case to plead his innocence in March, before deciding whether to grant special leave to hear the appeal.

The 78-year-old's legal team have argued previous findings against the cardinal failed to eliminate doubt about his opportunity to sexually abuse choirboys.

"The majority erred as, in light of findings made by them, there did remain a reasonable doubt as to the existence of any opportunity for the offending to have occurred," Pell's lawyers have said previously.

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