Man was a complainant against disgraced cardinal in a second trial that was abandoned, and says ‘when I was told they had withdrawn the case I felt empty’

A man who claims he was molested by George Pell and horrifically physically abused by staff when he was a ward of the state in the 1970s will file a lawsuit against the disgraced cardinal in the supreme court in Melbourne.

The statement of claim to be lodged on Monday names Pell, as well as the trustees of the Sisters of Nazareth (formerly responsible for the management of St Joseph’s), the state of­ Victoria and the Catholic archdiocese of Melbourne.

The 50-year-old man was a resident in St Joseph’s boys’ home in Ballarat from February 1974 to 1978 and says he was abused by Pell and a nun during that period.

Managing partner of law firm Arnold Thomas & Becker, Lee Flanagan, is leading the case and said his client would be seeking damages for psychiatric injury, loss of wages and medical expenses.

“David (not his real name), was one of the four complainants dubbed the ‘swimmers’, and alleges he was sexually assaulted by Pell in a swimming pool in Ballarat,” Flanagan said.

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“He was devastated when the prosecution decided not to proceed with his case.”

By the time prosecutors dropped the swimmers trial on 26 February, Pell was facing two charges in relation to two other boys who alleged Pell indecently assaulted them in a swimming pool in Ballarat. The prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to suggest Pell’s touching of one of the boys was deliberate, which is part of the reason the trial was dropped. The charges relating to David were discontinued by prosecutors in the weeks before the trial was officially abandoned. Pell has denied these accusations.

A Melbourne jury in December found Pell guilty of five charges of abuse against two choirboys in the 1990s but the verdict was only made public after the abandonment of the second trial which meant a suppression order on the case could be lifted.

David said it took “a lot of courage and soul searching” to be prepared to tell his story. “But when I was told they had withdrawn the case [from the trial] I felt empty and that an injustice had occurred,” he said.

He alleges Pell was playing with the children at the St Joseph’s pool and letting them climb on him in the pool. “On the day in the pool, [Pell] put a finger between the plaintiff’s buttocks through his bathers on three or four occasions,” the statement of claim says.

Flanagan said Arnold Thomas & Becker would seek to call at least three other witnesses in the case, who will allege similar separate episodes of abuse had occurred to them perpetrated by Pell.

“There was a fourth witness, but he died after charges were laid against Pell,” he said. “We may seek to tender his statement into evidence in this case”.

The statement of claim also outlines severe physical and emotional abuse David claims he experienced. Much of this was allegedly at the hands of a nun who worked at the home.

“On one occasion the plaintiff soiled his pants and some of his excrement landed on [the nun’s] dress when she entered the bathroom. She rubbed the excrement from her dress onto the plaintiff’s mouth,” the statement of claim alleges.

It further alleges that: “On one occasion the plaintiff was bashed by [the nun] in the bathroom. He was beaten to his face and head … the Plaintiff was unable to eat as a result of that abuse.”

David also alleges that the nun hit him hard on the head while he slept because he snored. On another occasion, the plaintiff alleges when he fell off his bike and broke his leg, he was forced to continue riding before eventually being taken away by an ambulance.

The Sisters of Nazareth have been contacted for comment.