Post by pim on Nov 13, 2019 13:36:39 GMT 10
Why "bugger"? Don't you trust the highest court in the country when it decides that there is a case that warrants its attention? Don't you want justice (for the victims at least as much as for Pell) to be seen to be done? Every i has to be dotted and every t crossed on this one so the legal process has to exhaust itself. Pell obviously has deep pockets and access to limitless financial resources to finance this appeal. The Catholic church claims it's not bankrolling Pell's legal costs and they've probably laundered the money such that that claim is technically "true". But that's a red herring. This is a two edged sword for the Catholic church. If the HC upholds Pell's appeal and strikes down the verdicts of two courts the stupendous costs involved are going to expose the contrast between what the Catholic hierarchy will spend to defend one of their own and the miserly way they flung a pittance - covered in caveats and confidentiality clauses - in front of the victims. Even in the best case scenario for Pell he won't emerge smelling of roses. Personally he's finished.
I agree that if the HC upholds Pell's appeal that would be a devastating outcome for victims of clerical paedophilia. One of the grounds for the HC appeal is that the dissenting judgement in the Vic court of appeal described the testimony of Witness J as "concocted". In other words it accuses Witness J of lying. There will be uproar if the HC upholds that dissenting judgement and it will destroy the modern prevailing culture of "believe the victim" in cases of sexual assault, particularly of children in which the plaintiff doesn't testify until adulthood and where everything relies on conflicting testimony of victim v perpetrator with no corroborating witness statements or forensic evidence available. If the HC upholds Pell's appeal it'll be a victory for the shock jocks and the tabloid media of the Murdoch empire who have been waging a culture war that has poisoned our politics and public discourse for a generation. It'll be a disaster and a tragedy.
If on the other hand the HC dismisses the Pell appeal - and this will be the full bench in a majority judgement - it will be a decisive blow in Australia against a poisonous culture that has infected our public life and media for decades.
The stakes couldn't be higher. There was no way that the HC was not going to hear this case.
I agree that if the HC upholds Pell's appeal that would be a devastating outcome for victims of clerical paedophilia. One of the grounds for the HC appeal is that the dissenting judgement in the Vic court of appeal described the testimony of Witness J as "concocted". In other words it accuses Witness J of lying. There will be uproar if the HC upholds that dissenting judgement and it will destroy the modern prevailing culture of "believe the victim" in cases of sexual assault, particularly of children in which the plaintiff doesn't testify until adulthood and where everything relies on conflicting testimony of victim v perpetrator with no corroborating witness statements or forensic evidence available. If the HC upholds Pell's appeal it'll be a victory for the shock jocks and the tabloid media of the Murdoch empire who have been waging a culture war that has poisoned our politics and public discourse for a generation. It'll be a disaster and a tragedy.
If on the other hand the HC dismisses the Pell appeal - and this will be the full bench in a majority judgement - it will be a decisive blow in Australia against a poisonous culture that has infected our public life and media for decades.
The stakes couldn't be higher. There was no way that the HC was not going to hear this case.