AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
Catholic priests involved in the sexual abuse of young children were repeatedly moved to different parishes in Victoria and sent on “treatment” trips to the US and Italy before eventually being convicted of their crimes, the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse has heard.
The opening day of hearings in the Victorian town of Ballarat featured the start of evidence from 17 men who said they were abused at five Catholic institutions in the area.
The widespread abuse, over the course of three decades from the 1960s onwards, has been linked to at least a dozen suicides in the Ballarat area due to the trauma endured by abuse victims.
The prolific offending of Gerald Ridsdale, who has been found guilty on four occasions of more than 100
Gail Furness, counsel assisting the royal commission, said Ridsdale abused children “at parishes or church locations throughout Victoria” from the 1960s to 1980s, including in Mildura, Swan Hill, Warrnambool, Apollo Bay, Ballarat and Mortlake.
Gail Furness, counsel assisting the royal commission, said Ridsdale abused children “at parishes or church locations throughout Victoria” from the 1960s to 1980s, including in Mildura, Swan Hill, Warrnambool, Apollo Bay, Ballarat and Mortlake.
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