Page:Pell v The Queen.pdf/13

Kiefel CJ

Bell J

Gageler J

Keane J

Nettle J

Gordon J

Edelman J

keep it in place; a stole; a cross around the neck; a green and gold cord worn down the back; a chasuble; a purple skull cap; and a mitre. In procession, the applicant carried a crosier.

25 In the way the prosecution case was left to the jury, it was alleged that the first incident occurred on either 15 or 22 December 1996 and that the second incident occurred on 23 February 1997.

The applicant's denials

26 The applicant did not give evidence at the trial. In October 2016, he voluntarily participated in a video-recorded interview with the police, which was in evidence. In the course of the interview the applicant emphatically denied A's allegations, stating that "[t]he most rudimentary interview of staff and those who were choirboys" at the time would confirm not only that the allegations were "fundamentally improbable" but also that they were "most certainly false". The applicant told the investigating police that he and his master of ceremonies were at the front of the Cathedral after Mass "as I always did", while the sacristan and his assistant would be in the sacristy cleaning up and bringing out the vessels and other items from the Mass.

The prosecution's pre-trial application

27 Consistently with its obligation to call all witnesses whose evidence was necessary to give a complete account of material events, the prosecution proposed to call 23 witnesses who were involved in the conduct of solemn Mass at the Cathedral or who were members of the choir in 1996 and/or 1997. The prosecution was presented with the difficulty that a number of its witnesses were expected to give evidence of practices that existed at the time of the alleged offending which, if followed, were inconsistent with the offending having occurred. The prosecution anticipated that a number of its witnesses would give evidence that these practices were followed with such strictness that there was no realistic possibility of the offending having occurred.