A witness has described Cardinal George Pell as a "bully" but says he never saw Australia's highest-ranked Catholic assault anyone.
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Pell, 76, returned to Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday for a committal hearing that will determine if he stands trial over multiple historical sex offences involving multiple complainants.
The court has not released details of the charges.
Defence barrister Robert Richter QC cross examined a former choir member who made a statement to police in 2017 saying he "had no love" for Pell.
"You say 'I have no love for the man ... he was a bully'," defence barrister Robert Richter QC read from the statement.
"That's right," the man said.
The lawyer added the witness described Pell as "strict and straight down the line" in a signed statement to police on June 8, 2017.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Pell acted differently to his colleague Father Charles Portelli, who gave evidence on Tuesday.
"He (Portelli) set a standard that was hard to live up to," the man said.
"He was welcoming."
When asked if Pell was "stern and remote", the witness agreed.
"That's right, it was a very cold change," he told the court.
But the witness said he did not see anything criminal during his interactions with Pell.
"You yourself never perceived anything that would allow you to conclude he had assaulted anyone?" Mr Richter asked.
"I did not," the man replied.
Earlier on Wednesday, the defence said they needed help from ABC investigative journalist Louise Milligan to decipher notes she had made about Pell's accusers.
Mr Richter said his team could not understand the subpoenaed shorthand notes they received from the journalist, and asked magistrate Belinda Wallington to intervene.
"What we wanted is to recruit Your Honour's status in mentioning to a Walkley Award winner ... that it would assist the court enormously in not wasting the time of dozens of people," Mr Richter said.
"Given that these notes have been filed under subpoena and unreadable, I would just ask Ms Milligan just read them onto a tape," Ms Wallington said.
Ms Milligan is scheduled to give evidence next week.
The pre-trial hearing will resume on Thursday.
Australian Associated Press
