Choirboy’s father can sue George Pell and Catholic Church
A deceased choirboy’s father will be able to pursue civil action against Cardinal George Pell and the Catholic Church after a Victorian court ruled the clergy cannot use a legal loophole to avoid it.
George Pell meets with the Pope after the High Court overturned his conviction and jail term for child sexual abuse. Photo supplied
The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is seeking damages against the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne and Pell in the Supreme Court.
He claims to have suffered nervous shock after being informed of allegations Pell had sexually assaulted his son in the mid-1990s. Pell has always maintained his innocence.
The Catholic Church tried to be excused from the proceedings by relying on the Ellis defence, arguing the man could not sue as he was not the direct victim of the alleged sexual abuse.
Up until 2018, the church could use the defence to deny liability to sexual abuse victims.
The case is believed to be the first to test the whether the Legal Identity of Defendants Act, brought in to abolish the Ellis defence, applies to secondary victims including family members.
Lawyers representing the father, known under pseudonym RWQ, said the act’s wording allowed for claims to be brought against the clergy “founded on or arising from child abuse”.
Justice Michael McDonald on Wednesday ruled the law could extend to the father, as a secondary victim of child abuse.
“The plain meaning of the words ‘founded on or arising from child abuse’ … includes a claim for nervous shock brought by a parent of a child alleged to have been sexually abused,” he told the court.
He said repeated usage of “founded on or arising from child abuse” in the act pointed strongly to a conclusion that the law was not confined to claims brought by primary abuse victims.
“To conclude otherwise renders the words ‘arising from child abuse’ otiose,” Justice McDonald said in his written decision.
He ordered the Catholic Church pay for the father’s legal costs.
Cardinal Pell was in 2018 convicted of molesting two teenage choirboys in the sacristy at St Patrick’s Cathedral while he was Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996.
His convictions were quashed in a unanimous decision by the High Court in 2020.
One of the two choirboys died of a drug overdose in April 2014 and his father has claimed he was informed about the boy’s alleged abuse the following year by police.
He claims the church was vicariously liable for the alleged abuse and that he has lost money to medical expenses and earning capacity due to suffering from several psychological conditions.
The ruling means the father’s case can continue.
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