Paedophile priest Terry Pidoto dies just before his court case

Broken Rites
November 20, 2015

http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/289

Father Terrence Pidoto, who has already been in jail for committing sexual crimes against boys in parishes around Melbourne, was scheduled to face the Melbourne County Court again on 20 November 2015, charged with additional child-sex offences after some more of his victims contacted the detectives in the Victoria Police sex-crime squad. But he died last week and now his victims will not achieve justice.

During 2014, Pidoto's new case went through preliminary procedures in the Melbourne Magistrates Court. According to court documents in 2014, the charges comprise 15 counts of indecent assault, allegedly committed against eight young males. The Magistrates Court was closed during the 2014 procedures.

At the County Court, on 20 November 2015, the prodeedings were to be chaired by a judge. But, because Pidoto is no longer available, his court case can no longer go ahead.

Terrence Melville Pidoto (born on 12 December 1944) was ordained as a priest for the Melbourne Catholic archdiocese in 1971. This diocese covers the Melbourne metropolitan area, plus some nearby country towns such as Kilmore.

The new charges against Pidoto were laid by a unit of detectives called the "Sano Taskforce" in the Victoria Police sexual crime squad, Flinders Street, Melbourne. This unit was established in 2012 when a Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry began examining the processes by which religious and other non-government organisations respond to allegations about the criminal abuse of children within those organisations. The purpose of the parliamentary committee was to prepare a report for the Victorian Parliament about these issues in general.