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Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale sentenced to 10 years' jail for sexual abuse of boys in 1970s
By Iskhandar Razak
Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale will spend at least another three years in jail after pleading guilty to 14 new offences committed against young boys under his care. Some of the offences happened during Confession or while reading Bible passages. "Your sexual abuse, at times when the child was seeking comfort, reveals your utter hypocrisy," the sentencing Judge Gerard Mullaly said. "They were vulnerable children and you simply used them and violated them for your perverse sexual gratification." Ridsdale has been in prison since 1994 and was already serving a 33-year sentence for abusing more than 60 children in Victoria, but his non-parole period was due to expire in 2022. He pleaded guilty to 14 sexual offences against four boys between 1970 and 1979, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but some of that sentence will be served concurrently. The new sentence effectively extends the 85-year-old's prison term to 36 years and changes his non-parole period to 2025. His defence counsel had argued that no additional imprisonment was required because of Ridsdale's advanced age, ill health and guilty plea. The former priest appeared via videolink with a walker beside him, and also suffers from high blood pressure and arthritis. He has also had a heart bypass and bowel surgery. Abuse carried out 'under pretence of religious education'But the sentencing judge said the crimes were so "corrosive" to the victims and the community, extra jail time was warranted. "The breach of trust affects the victims, their parents and the wider community, both adherents to Catholicism and otherwise. It is corrosive, causing people to have less trust even of decent members of religious communities," he said. The crimes happened in Inglewood, the Wimmera region and Warrnambool. Ridsdale would befriend the families of his victims. In some cases, he would ply the boys with alcohol before raping them, and in others he would use religious ceremonies or education to cover the crime. "All this was committed under the pretence of some religious education as you had him read or you read the Bible to the victim in the car at the time," the judge said. Judge Mullaly said if Ridsdale had not pleaded guilty he would have been given a 14-year sentence and a seven-year extension of his non-parole period.
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