Pell conviction appeal to be live streamed

Pedophile cardinal George Pell will return to court next week to appeal his conviction in a hearing that will be streamed live online.

The jailed 77-year-old is scheduled to appear at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday and Thursday for leave to appeal and an appeal hearing against conviction, after being found guilty of sexually abusing two choirboys in the 1990s.

He won’t seek a reduced sentence if the Court of Appeal upholds the conviction.

The appeal will be heard by the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Justice Anne Ferguson, president of the Court of Appeal Justice Chris Maxwell, and Justice Mark Weinberg.

The three judges will first decide if Pell should be granted leave to appeal and, if so, the matter will be heard over two days.

The proceedings will be streamed live online on the Supreme Court of Victoria’s website.

The streaming follows the live broadcast of Pell’s sentencing in the County Court of Victoria in March.

Pell has been in prison since February.

He was jailed for six years with a non-parole period of three years and eight months after being convicted in December of one charge of sexual penetration of a child and four charges of committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child.

Pell’s legal team will argue the verdicts were “unreasonable” because the jury could not have been satisfied beyond reasonable doubt Pell was guilty on the word of the complainant against “unchallenged exculpatory evidence” of more than 20 prosecution witnesses.

Pell’s legal team, led by Sydney specialist appeals barrister Bret Walker SC, will also argue that Judge Peter Kidd erred when he did not allow a graphic video during Robert Richter QC’s closing arguments.

They claim the video demonstrated the offending would have been impossible.

Thirdly, Pell’s lawyers will argue there was a “fundamental irregularity” in the trial because the cardinal did not plead guilty or not guilty before the jury.

Australian Associated Press