Dear Foxy,

«The courts have done their job.»

And their job is?

Judges are public servants. Their job-description is to interpret the laws that were set by politicians.

When laws conflict with justice, their job is to follow the former.
When laws conflict with morality, their job is to follow the former.
When laws conflict with common-sense, their job is to follow the former.

What I cannot understand is, how can one human be so cruel to another?

Justice will be served, no doubt, but not here on earth.

One day people will look back at history with amazement:
"Is it true that people once used to take revenge and punish each other deliberately? How barbaric could they be and this even happened all the way to the 21st century?"

Foxy, why did you put up that link? It didn’t show any evidence apart from what the victim said and some of the things he said were wrong as well.
The most senior judge on the panel supported the appeal and said there was a strong possibility that Pell didn’t commit the crime.
This is not about Pell personally, it’s about our legal system. As Joe says, you had better hope no one comes for you based on nothing more than someone’s 30 year old memory.

Dear Loudmouth,

You ask;

“Yes, as you point out, a testimony can count as 'evidence'. So, when they come for you, on the basis of someone's 'testimony', what do your reckon we should do ? Do you think that's impossible ?”

So what you want is the evidence from two people rather than one with at least one corroborating the other which is how it has traditionally worked.

So when they come for me on the basis of the testimony of two people who were prepared to lie to see me put way unjustly you will say all is good with the world? Case proven?

The laws changed in 2015 in response to issues with getting convictions against child molesters.

Therefore I'm going to ask the question a sightly different way.

So when they came for the next little Loudmouth, a child, trusting of authority, and they repeatedly raped him, leave him physically and emotionally scarred, with a future of spending his days battling mental demons, often turning drink and drugs to cope, often then to fail and to suicide in despair. Will you say to him “I'm sorry, I could have stopped this man, he had done this before to so many little children, but done it in such a way that there were no witnesses, no one to collaborate their evidence, so we had to let him go without censure so the Church could move him to your parish, to ingratiate himself with your parents, and to use you for his sexual gratification with no regard to what it would do to you, because you see the law can not be changed, can not be fully used to give broken children justice and to protect future victims.”?

Is that really going to be your message to that child?

SR,
Come off it, Sworn testimony as evidence is given every day in our courts. Some are believed and some are not. It is usual for the prosecution to present supporting evidence. You say you accept that the accuser was credible, yet is it not the hallmark of a con man to be a convincing liar.

You also say that it was the death of the other 'victim' that prompted the accuser to come forward. It was stated in a press article here that he is to sue Pell and the church. Could it be that the accuser came forward when he knew the other 'victim' could not contradict him, as he had already denied what the accuser said.

Dear HenryL,

This is the witness's statement in full to combat the likely distortions from people like you.

Quote

I am relieved by the decision of the court of appeal. It is four years since I reported to the police. The criminal process has been stressful. The journey has taken me to places that in my darkest moments I feared I would not return from.

The justice machine rolls on with all of its processes and punditry almost forgetting about the people at the heart of the matter.

Despite this, I appreciate that the criminal process has afforded Pell every opportunity to challenge the charges and every opportunity to be heard. I am glad he has had the best legal representation that money can buy.

There are a lot of checks and balances in the criminal justice process and the appeals process is just one of them. I just hope that it is all over now.

Some commentators have suggested that I reported to the police somehow for my own personal gain. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have risked my privacy, my health, my wellbeing and my family.

I have not instructed any solicitor in relation to a claim for compensation. This is not about money and it never has been
Some commentators have suggested that I am somehow out to cause damage to the Catholic church. I am not on a mission to do anybody any harm. Although my faith has taken a battering, it is still part of my life and part of the lives of my loved ones. I am not an advocate.

You wouldn’t know my name. I am not a champion for the cause of sexual abuse survivors, although I am glad that those advocates are out there. But that is not my path.

After attending the funeral of my childhood friend, the other choir boy, I felt a responsibility to come forward. I knew that he had been in a dark place, I have been in a dark place.

I gave a statement to the police because
Cont..

Cont..

I was thinking of him and his family. I felt I should say what I saw and what had happened to me. I had experienced something terrible as a child and I wanted some good to come of it. I would like to acknowledge my friend who passed away, the other choir boy.

I would like to acknowledge the courage of those people who reported to the police. For one reason or another, those matters did not proceed.

My heart goes out to you. I would like to acknowledge the Victoria Police and Office of Public Prosecutions. I am grateful for the steady hand of your honour Justice [Peter] Kidd in guiding the trial and his compassionate, balanced and fair sentencing.

In February, due to other cases not going ahead, I ended up in the spotlight alone. The suppression order was to be lifted and I suddenly found myself in the centre of worldwide media interest.

I asked Viv Waller to help me manage the considerable media interest in the case and to protect my identity and to protect my family. I could not afford legal representation but that did not matter to her. I will be forever grateful that Viv agreed to help me and to do so for free.

She has liaised with the media on my behalf. She has allowed the storms of public opinion to buffet her so that my young family could find safe harbour.

My journey has not been an easy one. It has been all the more stressful because it involved a high profile figure.

I thank the media for respecting my privacy and for continuing to protect my identity. I need to be able to define myself away from all of this.

Recently I have started a new chapter in my life as a father. The experiences I have been through have helped me understand what is truly important.

I am grateful for a legal system that everyone can believe in, where everyone is equal before the law and no one is above the law.

End quote.