George Pell 's prison telephone interview suggests highest levels of Vic Police feared a High Court appeal well before Vic Sup Crt CJ Anne Ferguson even heard Pell's appeal -Entry in Pell's prison journal raises questions that former Vic Police chief Graham Ashton and Police Minister Lisa Neville must answer

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

                                                              

                              Graham Ashton, Lisa Neville


George Cardinal Pell-Prison Journal Volume 1 , The Cardinal Makes His Appeal  includes this entry for 4 April 2019: 

I then had a strange interview over the phone with a female member of the Placement Assessments Unit who asked two questions of me.

This was organized by a quiet courteous man who remained with me after calling up my questioner.

" Did I know the choirboys who had been molested in the cathedral?"

" Did I intend to lodge an appeal?", I was then asked, as they had no record of this. This was surprising as the appeal was lodged before my sentencing and I already have the date for the  appeal hearing on June 5-6.

The appeal was heard on June 5 and 6 2019, and a three judge panel led by Chief Justice Anne Ferguson handed down their decision rejecting the appeal on 21 August 2019. 


The Placement Assessments Unit is part of Corrections Victoria  It is  managed by the Sentence Management Branch of Corrections Victoria.  Its duty is to manage prisoner reception and management, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the judicial system. The Minister in charge at the relevant time was Lisa Neville, Minister for Police.

The question " did I know the choirboys who had been molested in the cathedral" should not concern Corrections Victoria but would have concerned Victoria Police prosecutors who brought the case against Pell contrary to advice from the DPP Victoria. The Chief Of Police who oversaw the Pell investigation, and who was in office when the above incident occurred was Graham Leonard Ashton.

 The officer who questioned Pell  about his knowledge of the choirboys  is not likely to have formulated and initiated that question on her own. These are the questions that a lawyer or interrogator might ask to entrap a suspect, but in this case the suspect had already been convicted.

Ashton and Neville have both retired, but they must now provide answers to what appears to be a clumsy attempt at entrapment, after Pell had been convicted, and which could have only been initiated at the highest levels of Victoria Police. 

The second question seems contrived for the matter of Pell's appeal to the Supreme Court NSW was well publicised. 
It does therefore  seem likely  that Pell's interrogator's questions were intended to  frustrate any appeal by some form of threat with what could have been put forth as fresh evidence. Graham Ashton remained defiant to the end that he had no issue with how police had handled the case before charging Pell. There would therefore have been no reason to be concerned about Pell's Victorian Supreme Court appeal. It does seem however that Victoria Police were concerned about the prospect of a High COurt appeal, even before the Supreme Court appeal had been heard.



END 





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