A magistrate has told paedophile Gerald Ridsdale he will “probably die in custody” as he increased the 89-year-old former priest’s jail term by one year for abusing his 72nd victim. Source: 9news.com.au.
Ridsdale appeared frail and kept his eyes closed as he lay in a prison hospital bed, appearing by video link for his sentence at Ballarat Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
He has been in prison since 1994 and is serving a maximum 39-year sentence for abusing dozens of children when he worked as a priest at multiple schools and churches across Victoria.
He pleaded guilty in June to a new charge of indecent assault against a 13-year-old boy while he worked at a Catholic school in Horsham in 1987.
The boy went to the counsellor’s office to meet with Ridsdale, who grabbed his arm and said he was a “big strong lad” before touching him inappropriately.
Ridsdale suffered a fall in November 2022 and is now bed-ridden and in palliative care.
Magistrate Hugh Radford said Ridsdale was in a position of trust as a trainee priest, and “more than that you were a man of God” who should have been providing guidance to the boy.
He handed Ridsdale a 12-month prison sentence with no parole period, increasing his current maximum term to 40 years and his minimum to 33-and-a-half years.
“You will probably die in custody,” he said. His earliest release date was extended to April 2028.
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Paedophile priest may die in jail as sentence increased (By Emily Woods, AAP via 9news.com.au)
