Australian police interrogates Cardil Pell over child sex abuse

Sydney, Oct 26: Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, Cardil George Pell, has been interviewed by Victoria Police detectives over historic child sex abuse allegations. In a statement, Victoria Police on Wednesday confirmed to ABC News that “three members of Victoria Police travelled to Rome last week where Cardil Pell voluntarily participated in an interview regarding allegations of sexual assault.”

“As a result of the interview further investigations are continuing. We are not prepared to comment further at this time,” the statement added. The ABC revealed the allegations on July 27, with complaints Lyndon Monument and Damian Dign interviewed on a programme about alleged ippropriate touching at Ballarat’s Eureka pool in the 1970s.

Monument and Dign alleged the Cardil repeatedly touched their private parts while playing a game in the pool, where he would throw them and other boys up into the air.

But the wife of a former mager of the pool said she never saw Cardil Pell display any behaviour that concerned her. Another man, Torquay resident Les Tyack, had also made a complaint to Taskforce SANO about Cardil Pell allegedly standing ked in a change room in front of boys at the Torquay Surf Life Saving Club in the 1980s. The programme also revealed there were complaints relating to the Cardil’s time as Archbishop of Melbourne about his conduct with choirboys at St Patrick’s cathedral in the 1990s. (IANS)