What happened
Cardinal George Pell will attempt to make a final appeal against his conviction for child abuse, after the Victoria Supreme Court upheld the conviction by a 2-1 margin.
The Catholic News Agency has reported that Cardinal Pell will try to make his case to the High Court. The Court often refuses to hear appeals, but the cardinal’s legal team has been given hope by one of the Supreme Court judges, Mark Weinberg, who dissented from the other two judges.
In his 200-page opinion, Justice Weinberg said he had a “genuine doubt” that the cardinal had abused two children in 1996-7. In particular, he pointed to a “significant body of cogent evidence casting serious doubt upon the complainant’s account”.
