Judge Peter Kidd spoke for over an hour as he sentenced cardinal George Pell to six years in prison for child sex abuse. Here’s how he landed on that number.
Kidd, 53, is chief judge of the Victorian County Court. He began his remarks by saying the Pell case was unlike any other.
"I recognise that you seek justice, but it can only be justice if it is done in accordance with the rule of law."Pell was convicted of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys. One of them, J, is now aged in his 30s and testified at trial, while the other, R, died in 2014. Pell then turned to J, and put his penis into J's mouth for about two minutes."J was, to use his words, ‘freaking out’ when this happened. You were standing and J was pushed down, crouching or kneeling."
J had reported a significant impact on his mental wellbeing, which had affected his life and in particular his relationships. R's father felt"shocked and upset" and that he had failed his son. "The first episode in the priest’s sacristy involved a brazen and forceful sexual attack upon the two victims. The acts were sexually graphic," Kidd said.
"The full weight of your authority and position of power must have been very obvious to your victims, and to you," Kidd said.At Pell's sentence hearing earlier this month, Richter told Kidd what Pell had done was"no more than a plain vanilla sexual penetration case where the child is not volunteering or not actively participating".
"The fact is that you are of advanced years and are entering the last phase of your life. Like anyone in their late 70’s your health will decline in time," Kidd said. The enormous media scrums and placard-bearing protesters surrounding Pell as he went in and out of court were cited, with Richter arguing Pell had been"publicly pilloried".
The report said the risk to Pell"may be reduced in protection, so that in time he may be able to mix with a limited number of heavily vetted prisoners".The sentence was broadcast around the world via a single camera in the jury box. It was fixated only on Kidd, and not permitted to swivel to show Pell, or the other 120-plus people in the courtroom.
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