Australian Cardinal George Pell Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Pedophile

Australian Cardinal George Pell, who was number 3 of the Vatican, was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for five crimes of pedophilia, including one for oral penetration, against two minors, at the events occurred there over 20 years old.

Justice Peter Kidd of the Victoria State Court stated that Pell You must serve three years and eight months of your sentence before applying for parole, which you can do starting in October 2022.

The judge also said in reading the sentence that during the events the cardinal Pellwho was then archbishop of Melbourne, acted with "surprising arrogance" and that in the trial "he maintained his innocence, which is his right", without ever showing "remorse or contrition".

Pell He was arrested on February 27 – waiting to hear his sentence – after being convicted by a jury for badually abusing two 13-year-old children from the St. Patrick's Cathedral choir, at the age of 13. East of the city.

Judge Kidd emphasized in his ruling that the violence against the two children of the choir, still dressed in their official religious clothes, meant "a blatant and forced badual badault on the victims".

"The acts were badually graphic, the two victims were visibly and audibly upset during the offense", says the judge, insisting that Pell He was aware of his actions and did not even react when one of the children asked him to let them go.

After reading the sentence, the judge, who pointed out that his decision "was not simple", said that he had taken into consideration both the seriousness of the crimes, their age and their state of health. Pellamong other things, he asked the cardinal to sign the register of bad offenders, where he will remain "for life".

The sentence is pronounced after a jury found guilty Pell in December of last year the five crimes attributed to him, although the verdict was only made public on February 26, after the dismissal of a second case against the hierarch of the l & # 39; 39; Catholic Church for alleged badual badault of minors in the 1970s in his hometown, Ballarat.

The defense of Pell already appealed the sentence via a resource that will be addressed in June to decide whether to proceed or not.