One of Australia’s most notorious and prolific paedophiles, former priest Gerald Ridsdale, died yesterday at the age of 90. Source: ABC News.
Ridsdale had been in prison since 1994 for the abuse of more than 70 children in central and south-western Victoria and was sentenced for the eighth time in 2023.
A further 62 new charges were then brought against Ridsdale in 2024.
Ridsdale was born in 1934 in the Wimmera region of Western Victoria.
The former Catholic priest served in parishes in western Victoria after being ordained in 1961, and served at 16 different parishes nationwide.
Over the next 30 years, Ridsdale was moved by the Church to different parishes, following complaints detailing abuse.
He was first sentenced over the abuse of children in his parish in 1993, pleading guilty to dozens of charges relating to the sexual abuse of 72 individuals.
Ridsdale’s health failed in his final years, and he was only able to attend his court hearings via video link.
In 2022, Ridsdale had a fall in his cell in Hopkins Correctional Centre, and was left lying on the floor for hours before he was found.
He was left bed-bound, suffering from chronic pain, atrophying muscles, and weakness of limbs.
It was revealed during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that multiple members of the Church were aware of his offending but had allowed it to continue.
Ballarat Diocese Vicar General Fr Marcello Colasante said the diocese “recognises that the news of the death of Gerald Ridsdale is likely to renew the distress of those who have suffered from his crimes”, the Herald Sun reports.
He said it also extended its sympathies to Ridsdale’s family.
FULL STORY
Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale dies while serving jail term for historical sexual abuse (ABC News)
Australia’s worst pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale has died (By Olivia Jenkins, Regan Hodge and Timothy Cox, Herald Sun)
