CANBERRA, Australia — The most senior Catholic to be found guilty of child sex abuse could walk free from prison next week when an Australian court announces its verdict on his appeal against convictions for molesting two choirboys in a cathedral more than two decades ago.
A Victoria state Court of Appeal heard Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against his convictions in early June. The three judges announced on Thursday that they will give their verdict on Wednesday next week.
Pell has been in a Melbourne prison since March when he was sentenced to six years for convictions on charges that he orally raped a 13-year-old choirboy and indecently dealt with the boy and the boy’s 13-year-old friend in a rear room of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in December 1996.
The Associated Press
