A video recording of George Pell’s interview by police has been released by a Melbourne court as the man who was once Australia’s most powerful Catholic has spent his first night behind bars.
The 77-year-old was transported to the Melbourne Assessment Prison late yesterday after his bail was revoked at the end of his plea hearing in the County Court. He will be sentenced in a fortnight after being convicted of five child sexual offences of a child under 16.
The court has now released a video recording of Pell’s interview by police at an airport hotel in Rome in October 2016, eight months before he was charged with child sex offences.
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The 45-minute video was played to the court during Pell’s two trials last year, as he unsuccessfully fought charges relating to the sexual abuse of two choirboys in the ’70s. He did not give evidence during the trial and so the police interview was the only time the jurors heard from the accused man himself.
The footage depicts Pell, next to a lawyer, sitting across a table from Victoria Police Detective Sergeant Christopher Reed who put the allegations to the senior Vatican official for the first time.
Pell responded by describing them as “absolute and disgraceful rubbish” and claimed they were the “product of fantasy”.
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Pell told Sergeant Reed he intended to answer all questions. In return, he expected to be able to give the detective a list of people that should be interviewed who “may be in the best position to demonstrate the falsity of the accusations”.
WATCH: Child Sex Abuse Victim Speaks Out After Cardinal George Pell Child Sex Abuse Conviction.
