Australia

Prosecutors defend 'unimpeachable' verdict

June 6, 2019 3:53 pm

Cardinal George Pell is led into court on Thursday [Source: BBC]

Australian prosecutors are arguing that Cardinal George Pell’s conviction for child sexual abuse is “unimpeachable”, on the final day of his appeal hearing.

The ex-Vatican treasurer was found guilty by a jury last year of abusing two boys in 1996 in a Melbourne church.

He was later jailed for six years.

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Pell, 77, is the most senior Catholic figure to be convicted of such crimes.

But he maintains his innocence and is seeking to overturn the jury’s verdict, arguing it was “unreasonable”.

The Australian cardinal has been transported in a police van from prison to Victoria’s Court of Appeal for the hearing, which began on Wednesday.

Pell’s lawyers have detailed several arguments for why the abuse could not have occurred, but prosecutors have rejected those claims.