Everyone here who believes Pell is guilty need to get together and establish their evidence to condemn him to prison; If they cannot gather enough evidence then they need to close their mouth of accusations; instead of propagating false witness against what 7 Judges consider an innocent man. Put real evidence before the Court.

Dear Josephus,

The 7 judges did not deem the victim a false witness indeed they found his "evidence of the first incident did not contain discrepancies, or display inadequacies, of such a character as to require the jury to have entertained a doubt as to guilt."

I believe the 7 judges. Why don't you?

If Pell had been charged in China, he would be presumed guilty and - if he were a bit younger - his body parts would be now scattered across the developed world.

But he was charged in and by a system which deems him innocent until proven guilty in a fair trial, if somewhat detainable in the meantime. The highest court unanimously has now found him not guilty, which I think means 'innocent'.

In such a system, an accused doesn't have to prove his innocence, or even say a word in his own defence: it is up to the prosecution to find him guilty, and supposedly not up to him to prove himself innocent. He doesn't have to give any damn testimony if he doesn't want to.

As an ex-Maoist and lifetime atheist, I would have preferred some material evidence to be presented and Pell to be found guilty. But there wasn't any. So he's innocent. End of. Move on. Find some other witch to burn.

Joe

OLO is never short of angry, disappointed people trying to make others feel as miserable and as insignificant as they are. Yet, despite them; despite the China virus and the awful loss of jobs, a hapless government wrecking the economy and our future, what passes for a miracle in Australia has occurred - justice has overcome Marxist persecution of our highest ranking Christian priest: significantly, at Easter.

i really don't get why some have to attack contributors as being supposedly useless for expressing an opinion

Professor Gideon Boas, a barrister and Professor
of law at La Trobe University in Melbourne
stated that:

"... the Pell case had a set of unique and complex
circumstances that would not necessarily be a
factor in other jury trials."

He continues with:

" ... what's to say the high court had it right?
You had a jury process that functioned, you had a
court of appeal that by majority agreed with them,
and gave it serious consideration, and a high
court who saw it differently."

" There is no system that is flawless. Some juries
will give verdicts that are perverse or unreasonable
and, sometimes, so will judges."

Dr Tyrone Kirchengast, a barrister and solicitor
of the high court telle us that:

" I think we have to also understand that justice is
not perfect and it cannot always be perfect.
It's the case that sometimes innocent people are
convicted and guilty people aren't and what we strive
for in Australia is a system that eliminates errors as
far as possible."

"But it is impossible to think of criminal trials as a
process of a perfect case put to a perfect jury."

He adds that:

"Trial procedures are being continually reformed to
assist jurors to do their jobs and to lesson chances
of error."