Paedophile Catholic Priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale Admits to 14 New Victims

By Emily Portelli
The Herald Sun
November 18, 2013

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/paedophile-catholic-priest-gerald-francis-ridsdale-admits-to-14-new-victims/story-e6frg6n6-1226762455097

Former Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale leaving an earlier hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

A NOTORIOUS paedophile priest plied an altar boy with wine and made a 10-year-old girl perform sexual acts in a confession box at a church where he was the parish priest, court documents reveal.

Gerald Francis Ridsdale, 79, this morning admitted to sexually abusing 14 children, including three siblings, bringing the total number of his victims to 45.

Court orders have been lifted to reveal publicly that the former Victorian Catholic priest pleaded guilty to 29 charges of sex offences against boys and girls at Melbourne Magistrates' Court via videolink from prison, where he is serving a sentence.

The most recent charges of child sex abuse, committed between 1961 and 1980 at various regional Victorian towns where Ridsdale then resided, were laid in June this year, weeks before he would have been eligible for parole.

The priest indecently assaulted one girl numerous times - including once at the presbytery house, once while medically assisting her injured knee and once in a confessional box after telling her she was wicked and naughty and had to be punished.

He sexually assaulted other children, including those that regularly attended church or participated in after-school programs he ran, in cars while driving them around, in a bed he shared with them and at his parish and surrounding bushland.

The victims of the most recent offences reported them to police earlier this year.

Ridsdale told police he had difficulty remembering the victims and specific allegations.

After some hesitation, Ridsdale today pleaded guilty to 27 counts of indecent assault, one count of buggery and one count of carnal knowledge of a girl.

The remaining of the 84 charges were struck out.

"Um, I really wasn't prepared for this. I haven't spoken to my solicitor about what I'm supposed to do today," he said.

"Your Honour, I plead guilty. I plead guilty, yes."

Ridsdale was jailed in 1994 for offences against 21 victims - 20 boys and one girl - while a priest at a number of churches between 1961 and 1982.

He was convicted of further charges in 2006 for offences committed against 10 boys from 1970 to 1987.

Ridsdale will appear before the County Court on Wednesday for a directions hearing, at which he will be formally arraigned.

He made no application for bail.

Two suppression orders, imposed earlier to avoid prejudicing a trial, were set aside by the magistrate after the prosecutor submitted they were no longer necessary.