Human cost of clergy’s silence

AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By Melissa Cunningham
Dec. 14, 2015

CLERGY sexual abuse survivor Paul Levey says he has spent his whole life trying to escape his past.

Mr Levey said he been a “broken man” since he was forced to live with notorious paedophile Gerard Ridsdale after his parents separated in 1982.

After being subjected to daily sexual abuse at the hands of Ridsdale, Mr Levey spent years in a haze of drugs and alcohol, trying to numb the pain.

He said he was struggling with his parent’s separation and Ridsdale offered to take care of him.

He said his time in the “monster cave” tore his family apart.

“It destroyed me and everything I was,” Mr Levey said.

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