Second, you wrote: "The other (alleged victim) whose identity and testimony remain secret, didn’t speak of it for many years." The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse Final Report found the average time it took men to disclose abuse was 25.7 years. The surviving choirboy disclosed 19 years after his abuse – earlier than average. The other choirboy died 18 years after his abuse, so was also well inside the average. You made the point that the abuse "allegedly happened in the sacristy, normally a very busy room". You say you are not a Catholic. I was raised a Catholic and have asked my extensive network of Catholic friends and family about the sacristy. I’m yet to find one who tells me the sacristy was, or is, "normally" very busy. The adjectives used have included "quiet", "weird", "uncomfortable", "scary", "silent", "solemn". Loading You wrote the abuse allegedly occured "where Pell would have known people were almost certain to walk in". The prospect of discovery did not deter clergy abusers. Children were raped with their parents in the next room. In St Alipius, Ballarat, one child I know of was carried away from the playground by Gerald Ridsdale and Robert Best, screaming for his life, in front of the other children. At St Patricks College, boys were physically punished at the back of the classroom then molested while the rest of the class faced forward. You say: "There is no history or pattern of similar abuse by Pell, unlike with real Church pedophiles such as Ridsdale." This point is totally irrelevant to Pell’s guilt or otherwise. Sexual abuse of children is a crime. You don’t have to do it to (at least) 65 children like Ridsdale; just the once.

You testify that "the man I know seems not just incapable of such abuse, but so intelligent and cautious that he would never risk his brilliant career or good name on such a mad assault in such a public place". I’ve never met Pell so I cannot give an opinion of what he is capable of. Even if I could, it would most certainly not be "overwhelming evidence". Pedophiles can be otherwise lovely, intelligent, charismatic people. We know from history they include successful politicians, celebrities, judges, teachers, priests. They are from all walks of life and run the gamut from stupid to brilliant, charming to repulsive. You speculate that "maybe they misremembered. Maybe they had the wrong guy". Please spend some time listening to survivors recount their experiences. While they might be blurry with exact dates and times, the details of the perpetrator they sadly cannot get out of their head. My husband struggles to wear aftershave because Dowlan wore it while he abused him. Columnist Andrew Bolt. Credit:Justin McManus "I would, and did, read transcripts of the trial". No Andrew, you may have read a partial transcript. The full transcript is not available to you or any of us. Only the survivor, the police, the lawyers, the judge, the jury and Pell have heard all the evidence. So please stop implying you know all the facts: you do not, and nor do I. You ask: "Could this attack have happened when not a single witness corroborated a single one of the accuser’s’ claims?" Yes, it could. I am yet to meet a survivor who had a witness to the crime committed against them. And yet these crimes occurred.