George Pell's lawyer says child abuse was 'plain vanilla' sex as cardinal heads to jail

Cardinal Pell is remanded in custody following his conviction for child sexual assault, which judge calls ‘callous, brazen offending’

Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic cleric ever convicted of child sexual abuse, has been taken in custody following a sentencing hearing in which his lawyer described one of Pell’s offences as a “plain vanilla sexual penetration case where the child is not actively participating”.

The chief judge, Peter Kidd, responded: “It must be clear to you by now I’m struggling with that submission. Looking at your points here – so what?”

He said he saw Pell’s behaviour as “callous, brazen offending” and “shocking conduct”.

“He did have in his mind some sense of impunity. How else did he think he would get away with this? There was an element of force here ... this is not anywhere near the lower end of offending.”

“That wasn’t just a trifling sexual assault,” he said.

“Nothing is to be gained here by comparing different forms of sexual abuse of children. Of course I need to make a judgement of the overall gravity of this. But there is a limit to these kinds of comparisons.”

Abuse survivors and advocates present in the court gasped as Richter made his arguments for a lower-end sentence. He said at one point that if Pell’s victims were “truly distressed” after being abused, they would have returned to their homes exhibiting that distress. read more »

Lawmakers Working To Extend Statute Of Limitations For Sexual Abuse Reporters

A 78-year-old Denver man who survived sexual abuse as a child is now fighting for a law cracking down on people who know about abuse, but don’t report it. Certain professions — teachers, clergy, doctors — are required, by law, to report suspected child abuse or face charges.

Colorado has an 18-month statute of limitation on mandatory reporting, meaning if a person keeps the abuse secret for 18 months, they can’t be prosecuted even if they concealed it purposefully. read more »

Prison guard sentenced for sexual abuse of inmate

A federal corrections officer was sentenced to a year in prison for sexually abusing an inmate in Dallas.

Erica McCoy, 32, pleaded guilty in August to having abusive sexual contact with an inmate, identified only by his initials, D.E., according to the Department of Justice. McCoy worked at an all-male, low security institution southeast of Dallas.

“Today’s sentence demonstrates that corruption and abuse of power have no place in our federal prisons and will not be tolerated,”Elise Chawaga, the deputy assistant inspector general for investigations, said in a news release. read more »