Kiefel CJ
Bell J
Gageler J
Keane J
Nettle J
Gordon J
Edelman J
6.
At least a month after the first incident, again following Sunday solemn Mass at the Cathedral, A was processing with the choir back along the sacristy corridor towards the Knox Centre (the procession on this occasion was evidently an internal one). After A passed the doors to the priests' sacristy, but before reaching the door to the archbishop's sacristy, the applicant appeared and pushed A against the wall and squeezed his testicles and penis painfully. The applicant was "in his full regalia". The assault was fleeting. A did not say anything nor did he tell B about this second incident (charge five).
A was uncertain of the date of each incident. He believed that both had occurred following a Sunday solemn Mass celebrated by the applicant in the second half of 1996, before Christmas. He maintained that the two incidents were separated by at least one month.
The celebration of Sunday solemn Mass following the applicant's installation as Archbishop of Melbourne
The applicant was installed as Archbishop of Melbourne on 16 August 1996 at a ceremony held in the Exhibition Building. The Cathedral was closed from Easter until the last week of November 1996 while renovations were being completed. The archbishop's sacristy was not available for the applicant's use throughout the period of the alleged offending. The applicant used the priests' sacristy to put on and remove his vestments in this period. Portelli and any other priests also used the priests' sacristy for robing.
The first occasion on which the applicant celebrated Mass at the Cathedral was the vigil of Christ the King on the evening of Saturday, 23 November 1996. The first time the applicant celebrated Sunday solemn Mass in the Cathedral was on 15 December 1996. The only other occasion on which the applicant celebrated Sunday solemn Mass in the Cathedral in 1996 was on 22 December. The next occasion on which the applicant was present in the Cathedral for the celebration of Sunday solemn Mass was on 23 February 1997. The occasion was unusual in that the celebrant was Father Brendan Egan and not the applicant. The applicant presided at the Mass, a role which did not require him to speak.
When presiding at solemn Mass the applicant wore his "choir robes": a purple cassock, which was worn under a white garment called a "rotchet" that extended down to the knees, and over which the applicant also wore a short purple cape. When celebrating solemn Mass, the applicant wore an alb, which is a white, ankle-length tunic, tied at the waist with a cincture, a rope knotted several times to
