‘We will get you, Pell, no matter what’

Under the heading Cardinal Pell’s appeal to go to High Court, Peter Westmore reported the news about the High Court Appeal in News Weekly on 16 November. He summarises the course of events leading to the conviction of the Cardinal as well as raising serious issues about Victoria’s legal system.

What is new in this report is that ‘two women, Lil Sinozic and Jean Cornish, who worked at the cathedral at the time have come forward to say that they believed the allegations were “impossible”.’ See their testimony below.

What I find particularly significant is their claim that after Mass protestors holding placards shouted ‘PELL, GO TO HELL’. and ‘WE WILL GET YOU, NO MATTER WHAT’ while the Cardinal was greeting Mass goers.

All the evidence points to collusion and tight organization behind the unceasing vilification of George Pell with the uncompromising and non-negotiable object of ‘getting him’, of destroying him. The evidence points to the hierarchy of Victoria police and the Andrews government as players – among others less visible. What part, for example, did former members of the homosexual Rainbow Sash Movement play? They have succeeded beyond their dreams.

Cardinal Pell has been an unimaginable prize for Australia’s feverish left. And they don’t want to relinquish it without a fight. The irrational response to the High Court’s granting leave to the Cardinal to appeal is evidence. Daniel Andrews’ furious maniacal response to Tony Abbott’s visit to Cardinal Pell in jail is screaming evidence of the left’s signal they’ll fight all claws bared to keep Pell in jail.

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THE TESTIMONY OF LIL SINOZIC AND JEAN CORNISH

Two women who worked at the cathedral at the time have come forward to say that they believed the allegations were “impossible”.

Neither of them was interviewed by police investigating the matter, nor called as witnesses at Cardinal Pell’s trials.

The two women who said they were present in the cathedral for Sunday Solemn Masses in December 1996, Lil Sinozic and Jean Cornish, have also expressed disappointment that Cardinal Pell’s defence team did not call them as witnesses in the trial.

Catholic News Agency interviewed the two teachers and said that Lil Sinozic, a former teacher and executive assistant to then Father – now Monsignor – Charles Portelli, who was then-Archbishop Pell’s master of ceremonies, echoed the defence, insisting that the circumstances of the alleged crimes as presented to the jury simply did not add up.

“I just know for a fact that what they’re describing could not have happened, given the situation in the sacristy after Mass … to say that there was this five-minute interval where these acts were performed, and nobody saw or heard anything, is ridiculous.

“I don’t know why the jury was led to believe otherwise,” she told CNA.

Her account was confirmed by Jean Cornish, a former principal of Good Shepherd Catholic School in Melbourne.

In December 1996, Ms Cornish was on secondment to the Archdiocese, and later served as project director for the Archbishop and cathedral manager.

She had complete access to all parts of the cathedral, attended Sunday Solemn Masses at the cathedral, and was therefore present when the alleged offences took place. She was therefore perfectly placed to observe anything that went on in the cathedral precinct.

She said the Archbishop would always spend a great deal of time shaking hands and greeting people after Mass, even as protestors sometimes made their presence known with placards, shouting slogans such as, “Pell, go to hell” and “We will get you, Pell, no matter what”.

Ms Cornish also said she was in the habit of observing the activities and movement of people in the cathedral’s sacristy area.

“This was something I had learned to do even in the short two months I had been there, as the main sacristy corridor door was open to allow the altar servers, the assistant sacristan, and Alan the florist, as well as others who attended to the sanctuary and sacred vessels, to access the area freely.”

Cornish said she believes that the area where the abuse allegedly occurred was the “busiest and most open” of the sacristy areas, and reiterated that Archbishop Pell was never alone before, during, or after a Sunday Mass.