AUSTRALIA
7 News

PATRICK CARUANA –
November 18, 2013

For many Catholic families in western Victoria, Father Gerald Ridsdale was God’s representative in their community.

But in reality, he was one of the state’s worst ever pedophiles whose depraved crimes were later denounced by a County Court judge as reaching the “depths of evil hypocrisy”.

Ridsdale’s appalling history of child abuse began in 1961 – the year he was ordained as a priest.

He spent the next 26 years abusing dozens of children across regional Victoria, often using his privileged status as a priest to earn the trust of victims and their families before striking.

Broken Rites spokesman Wayne Chamley says Ridsdale’s heinous crimes have devastated entire communities.