Kiefel CJ
Bell J
Gageler J
Keane J
Nettle J
Gordon J
Edelman J
23.
in the Cathedral: in June 1997 he was overseas, and in October 2000 he underwent surgery.
Apart from these two instances, Portelli had no recall of any occasion when he did not accompany the applicant to the sacristy to disrobe. He acknowledged the possibility of an occasion or occasions when, after escorting the applicant to the sacristy, he may have left him while he, Portelli, went back to the sanctuary to make sure that everything was in place if there was another service that afternoon. In that event, he would have been absent for around two minutes. He was able to say that he would not have left the applicant to check that everything was in place in the sanctuary on either 15 or 22 December 1996 because there were no other events fixed for those afternoons.
Potter confirmed that the applicant would never return to the sacristy unaccompanied. It was Potter's responsibility to assist the applicant with the removal of his vestments and to make sure that the vestments were hung. Potter maintained there was always a priest to assist the applicant or "one of us", a reference it would seem to either Portelli or himself being present in the sacristy when the applicant removed his vestments. Potter agreed that, on the first two occasions on which the applicant said Sunday solemn Mass in the Cathedral, the applicant was assisted to disrobe by Portelli.
McGlone's understanding was that an archbishop could never be left alone in the Cathedral, at least not during the course of ceremonies, and that the ceremony continued until the archbishop removed his vestments. McGlone explained that the vestments themselves are sacred, and that particular prayers are said when donning and removing them.
Connor had no recall of ever seeing the applicant alone while he was robed. He agreed that such an occasion would have been memorable.
David Dearing was asked if he had ever seen the applicant in robes without Portelli accompanying him. He replied, "I wouldn't have thought so, no. My recollection is that they were always together." He was asked to describe the distance between the two when they were walking together. His response was to say, "I described him as his bodyguard". His father, Rodney Dearing, agreed that whenever he saw the applicant robed, he was with Portelli.
