George Pell Will be Released from Prison Today

Cardinal George Pell, who was unanimously found guilty by a jury of five charges of child sexual abuse in 2018, will be released from prison today after winning his appeal against the convictions in the High Court of Australia. The decision was handed down this morning, less than a month after Pell’s lawyers took their fight to the High Court after losing their appeal in the Victorian courts last year.

The 78-year-old former adviser to the Pope, previously Australia’s most senior catholic cleric, was serving a six-year jail sentence for allegedly abusing two choirboys during his time as archbishop of Melbourne in the 90s. His convictions included one charge of sexually penetrating a child under the age of 16, and four charges of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16.

Pell was convicted by a jury in December 2018—thus becoming the most senior Catholic cleric to ever be convicted of sexually abusing children—in a ruling that the Victorian Court of Appeal later upheld in a two-to-one decision. His lawyers, however, argued that the appeal court failed to take adequate account of evidence that called his guilt into question. This morning, the High Court granted Pell special leave and acquitted him of his convictions.

In a statement, the High Court declared that they "found that the jury, acting rationally on the whole of the evidence, ought to have entertained a doubt as to the applicant's guilt with respect to each of the offences for which he was convicted, and ordered that the convictions be quashed and that verdicts of acquittal be entered in their place."

Pell released a statement of his own, obtained by the ABC, shortly after the High Court's decision was delivered.

"I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice," it reads. "This has been remedied today with the High Court's unanimous decision. I look forward to reading the judgment and reasons for the decision in detail.

"I hold no ill will toward my accuser, I do not want my acquittal to add to the hurt and bitterness so many feel; there is certainly hurt and bitterness enough. However my trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church; nor a referendum on how Church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of paedophilia in the Church.

"The point was whether I had committed these awful crimes, and I did not. The only basis for long term healing is truth and the only basis for justice is truth, because justice means truth for all.

"A special thanks for all the prayers and thousands of letters of support. I want to thank in particular my family for their love and support and what they had to go through; my small team of advisors; those who spoke up for me and suffered as a result; and all my friends and supporters here and overseas.

"Also my deepest thanks and gratitude to my entire legal team for their unwavering resolve to see justice prevail, to throw light on manufactured obscurity and to reveal the truth. Finally, I am aware of the current health crisis. I am praying for all those affected and our medical frontline personnel."

He is set to be released from Victoria’s Barwon Prison today, although it is not known where he will be taken or where he intends to stay.