The Blue Knot Foundation, Australia’s National Centre of Excellence for Complex Trauma, says sexual abuse victims will be relieved that the appeal of Cardinal George Pell has failed and that his conviction will be upheld.
- “For many survivors a conviction being upheld against a high profile once powerful perpetrator underlines faith in the justice process and the possibility of speaking out.”
- “Believing the victim in this case sends a message to so many other victims that what happened to you mattered and will now be more likely to be believed than ever before.”
- “It is rare to have corroborating evidence in a child sexual abuse case as the crime is perpetrated in secret and there are rarely witnesses. In this case there was a witness but he was lost to suicide, quite possible as a result of the very crime he could have corroborated.”
Blue Knot Foundation is Australia’s National Centre of Excellence for Complex Trauma, empowering recovery and building resilience for the five million adult Australians (1 in 4) with a lived experience of childhood trauma (including abuse), their families and communities. The organisation played a pivotal role supporting the work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and in advocating for fair and equitable redress.
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