The reports did not name Cardinal Pell but said a high-profile person had been found guilty of criminal charges.
The reports used information derived from Cardinal Pell’s first trial and this contravened the suppression order set by County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd. Cardinal Pell was awaiting a second trial at the time but that trial was ultimately aborted by prosecutors.Cardinal Pell last year had his convictions quashed and was released from prison following a successful appeal to the High Court.
Lawyers for the media on Wednesday told the Supreme Court their clients offered sincere, unqualified apologies to the courts and Judge Kidd for the breaches. Will Houghton, QC, representing some News Corp publications, said the breach was unusual in that it was not based on a production mistake or a “[Derryn] Hinch-like” deliberate action, but came after careful consideration among senior editorial staff and media lawyers before publication, based on the view at the time that the reports complied with the order.
“It wasn’t carelessness, it wasn’t inadvertence. It was a conscious and deliberate decision made ... to publish those articles in the honest belief that those articles did not breach the suppression order,” Mr Houghton said. “They now know to the contrary.”