[AusRace] Pell

Thu Mar 21 21:21:44 AEDT 2019

Quite. A very dangerous precedent. An obvious stitch up and national
disgrace. Another one.

On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 at 18:34, Rob Waterhouse <robbie at robwaterhouse.com>
wrote:

> *THE AUSTRALIAN*
>
> *Pell case attracts inaccurate views*
>
> GERARD HENDERSON
>
> R v George Pell was one of the highest-profile cases in the history of
> criminal law in
>
> Australia. Similar in its news impact to Lindy Chamberlain’s conviction
> (followed by
>
> acquittal) in the 20th century and Ned Kelly’s conviction (followed by
> hanging) in the 19th
>
> century.
>
> As such, it is more important than usual for reporters and commentators to
> be factual —
>
> especially in view of the international attention the case has attracted.
> Unfortunately, the
>
> coverage so far has had many blemishes — which go to a basic
> misunderstanding of the law
>
> and how it operates.
>
> On Wednesday, ABC TV’s *The Drum *devoted the first half of the program
> to a discussion
>
> on Pell’s sentencing, following his conviction in December last year by a
> jury of 12.
>
> Victoria, unlike such jurisdictions as NSW and Queensland, does not
> provide for trial by
>
> judge alone.
>
> Early in *The Drum*’s discussion, presenter Craig Reucassel said
> emphatically that “a judge
>
> and 12 individuals have found him guilty”. This is hopelessly wrong.
>
> If Reucassel had studied Chief Judge Peter Kidd’s sentencing remarks, he
> would know that,
>
> early on, the judge had this to say: “I must at law give full effect to
> the jury’s verdict; it is
>
> not for me to second-guess the verdict.”
>
> Later on, when referring to the matter that the spontaneous attacks took
> place at St Patrick’s
>
> Cathedral in a room with the door open, he said: “If I am required to
> identify other
>
> By *GERARD HENDERSON*, COLUMNIST
>
> 12:00AM MARCH 16, 2019
>
> explanations as to why you (Pell) were prepared to take on the risk of
> somebody walking in
>
> on you into the priests’ sacristy, then I do.
>
> “By the jury’s verdict, this offending occurred, and no one walked into
> the priests’ sacristy
>
> while you were offending. These are the facts which I must act on.”
>
> In other words, Kidd made it clear — and properly so — that his role as
> the trial judge is to
>
> accept the jury’s verdict as fact without second-guessing its decision.
>
> Reucassel should have known this, as should his producer, who could have
> advised an onair
>
> correction but apparently did not.
>
> In the discussion, panellist Shivani Gopal claimed that Pell offending
> against one of the
>
> boys, called “R”, resulted in his death. In fact, the sentencing judge
> said that “it is common
>
> ground between the parties that R’s death is not related to the offending
> against R”.
>
> Reucassel did correct this error. However, he said nothing when Gopal
> criticised Pell’s sixyear
>
> sentence as too soft, claiming that white-collar criminals “go to jail
> for life”.
>
> This is mere hyperbole and quite unfair to Kidd. It can always be argued
> that a particular
>
> sentence is too soft or too hard. However, it seems in this case the
> sentence was about right
>
> for the charges on which the jury found the defendant guilty.
>
> Pell would have received a shorter sentence if he had pleaded guilty but
> he maintains his
>
> innocence and his appeal will be heard by the Victorian Court of Appeal in
> early June.
>
> Without regard to the sentence, it is important to remember that Kidd said
> that Pell had led
>
> “an otherwise blameless life in the 22 years since the offending” in
> 1996. He also referred to
>
> Pell’s “otherwise good character”.
>
> The errors in commentary about R v George Pell did not stop at the ABC.
> Just after the
>
> sentencing findings were handed down, Derryn Hinch tweeted that the judge
> “saw right
>
> through him (Pell)”. This despite the fact that Kidd had said that, by
> law, he had to accept
>
> the jury’s decision.
>
> Then on Thursday, Ray Hadley led off his high-rating 2GB/4BC program with
> the claim
>
> that Pell’s appeal would only be with respect to law, not facts. Two out
> of three matters
>
> involve questions of law. However, the principal grounds of appeal are
> that the verdicts are
>
> unreasonable having regard to the evidence. Pell’s appeal grounds are
> contained in a public
>
> document that is available to Hadley and all his listeners. There is no
> excuse for error.
>
> Graham Richardson normally talks a lot of sense. But he was not in the
> best of form at the
>
> start of his Sky News program *Richo *on Wednesday.
>
> Richardson claimed that, with respect to Pell, “there’s been this massive
> effort with silence
>
> orders and things to try and make no one have an idea about what’s going
> on”. He added: “I
>
> mean, if you’re George Pell, you can get that. I think that if I was on
> trial for pedophilia
>
> tomorrow, I’d have Buckley’s at having my name removed … I think everyone
> would be
>
> speaking it. It’s just something I think the church has handled badly for
> so long.”
>
> In fact the suppression orders in the Pell case were issued by the
> Victorian County Court
>
> and were supported by the Office of Public Prosecutions.
>
> They were designed to make it possible for Pell to get a fair trial in a
> subsequent case. This
>
> prosecution was dropped by the Victorian OPP when it determined that there
> was
>
> insufficient evidence for a conviction — and the suppression order was
> lifted.
>
> In any event, suppression orders do not work in the age of social media.
>
> Moreover, I am aware of one suppression order in a current pedophile case
> where the
>
> defendant is neither well known nor a Catholic.
>
> It is to be hoped that ill-informed media comment dissipates in the
> lead-up to the appeal.
>
> This is likely to be one of the most important legal cases in recent years.
>
> As *The Age*’s crime reporter John Silvester has put it, the Court of
> Appeal has to consider
>
> whether a verdict is safe in a case where the defendant “was found guilty
> beyond reasonable
>
> doubt on the uncorroborated evidence of one witness, without forensic
> evidence, a pattern
>
> of behaviour or a confession.”
>
> Whatever the outcome of the appeal, this decision will set a precedent of
> far greater
>
> significance than either the Chamberlain or Kelly cases.
>
> *Gerard Henderson is executive director of the Sydney Institute. His Media
> Watch Dog blog*
>
> *can be found at theaustralian.com.au <http://theaustralian.com.au>.*
>
> GERARD HENDERSON, COLUMNIST
>
> Gerard Henderson is an Australian author, columnist and political
> commentator. He is the Executive
>
> Director of the Sydney Institute, a privately funded Australian current
> affairs forum. His Media Watch
>
> Dog colu... Read more
>
>
>
> *From:* Racing <racing-bounces at ausrace.com> *On Behalf Of *
> norsaintpublishing at gmail.com
> *Sent:* Thursday, 21 March 2019 5:43 PM
> *To:* AusRace Racing Discussion List <racing at ausrace.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [AusRace] The SP, a shark, and the long arm of the Law
>
>
>
> "The defence argued that this information was hearsay, (it needs
> corroboration to be admitted), and so it's inadmissible as it is."
>
>
>
> Which places the conviction of George Pell in its proper context.
>
>
>
> On Thu, 21 Mar 2019 at 17:13, Tony Moffat <tonymoffat at bigpond.com> wrote:
>
> When fishing off a small boat just outside the breakers at Coogee a 14 foot
> tiger shark was snared.
> That is big, and on braid, it being pre-nylon in 1935 when this happened.
> The shark was trailed ashore and taken over by the aquarium nearby.
>
> The shark disgorged a complete human arm and had not eaten anything  while
> being observed.
>
> The arm had tattoos of two boxers, the hands were fingerprinted and these
> matched SP Jimmy Smith.
>
> There was a summation that Smith had cheated on other crime figures, not SP
> related though, and that Reginald Holmes
> was involved, and further, Smith had been lured to a seaside house to meet
> Patrick Brady and Brady had been recruited by
> Holmes to murder Smith. The arm was severed from the body, and shown as
> proof of the deed most foul having been completed, and the arm was
> thrown in the sea to dispose of it, and this allows the entry of the shark
> to this story.
>
> Later, on the harbour now, the Police were called to the matter of an out
> of
> control launch and on this launch the found
> Holmes with a bullet wound, to the head. Holmes maintained he had been shot
> by an unknown man, and again there was a summation that
> Holmes had meant to suicide but this failed, it has to be said, and Holmes
> was treated by a nurse and allowed to go home.
>
> Brady gave  series of statements and records or interview to Police,  and
> Detectives charged Brady with murder, of Smith.
>
> Later, before the inquest of the presence of the arm, Holmes was found dead
> at Dawes Point, near the Bridge, murdered
> by shooting, 3 times under the heart with a .32" calibre firearm.
>
> Holmes widow told the inquest that her husband told her that Brady killed
> Smith, no specifics known.
>
> The defence argued that this information was hearsay, (it needs
> corroboration to be admitted), and so it's inadmissible as it is.
> Further, an arm did not constitute a body, and Smith may well be alive,
> without his arm. Although not habeas corpus, it kind of is.
>
> Brady was acquitted after inquest evidence was allowed and admitted.
>
> Smith was a SP in a South Coast town, the other SP was the Undertaker.
> Apart
> from his perceived dislike by Holmes, Smith appears harmless.
>
> Cheers
>
> Tony
>
>
> ---
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