Kiefel CJ
Bell J
Gageler J
Keane J
Nettle J
Gordon J
Edelman J
3.
not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof"[1]. Special leave to appeal should be granted on both grounds and the appeal allowed. The respondent submitted that, in the event special leave were granted and the appeal allowed, the matter should be remitted to the Court of Appeal or relisted before this Court so that the whole of the evidence might be placed before it.
10 The respondent's submission with respect to the consequential order is rejected. The submission that the Court does not have before it the material to enable it to determine whether the verdicts are unreasonable or cannot be supported by the evidence is specious. Each party placed before the Court all the evidence that it considered relevant to the determination of the applicant's proposed second ground of appeal and each party addressed written and oral submissions as to the inferences to be drawn from it. This Court is empowered to give, and should give, such judgment as ought to have been given by the Court of Appeal[2]. As will appear, the Court of Appeal majority's findings ought to have led to the appeal being allowed. It follows that the order of the Court of Appeal must be set aside and in its place the appeal to that Court allowed, the applicant's convictions quashed and verdicts of acquittal entered.
The layout of the Cathedral and the conduct of processions
11 Before outlining A's allegations, there should be reference to aspects of the layout of the Cathedral and its surrounds, and to the manner in which the applicant, his attendants and the choir ordinarily processed from the Cathedral at the conclusion of Sunday solemn Mass at the time of the alleged offending. Adjoining the Cathedral at the rear is a modern building called the "Knox Centre". A metal gate at the eastern end of the Cathedral on its southern side opens into a short corridor between the Cathedral and the Knox Centre. The corridor gives access to several toilets and was referred to as the "toilet corridor". At the end of the toilet corridor, a glass door opens onto a small vestibule. To the right, as one passes through the glass door from the toilet corridor, there is a fire door which gives access to the Knox Centre. The choir room, in which the choir robed, was located in the Knox Centre. To the left, as one passes through the glass door from the toilet
