AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Wednesday 11 May 2016
A high-profile spokesman for child sexual abuse survivors, David Ridsdale, has been accused of not being transparent about his own abusing.
Ridsdale, who is the nephew and victim of notorious paedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale, helped coordinate a group of child sex abuse survivors to fly to Rome in February to watch Cardinal George Pell testify before Australia’s child sexual abuse royal commission.
The commission had heard allegations that Pell tried to bribe Ridsdale to keep quiet about his molestation at the hands of his uncle. Ridsdale has repeatedly called for Pell and the church to be transparent about what they knew about the abuse of children within Catholic institutions.
But for the first time abuse offences Ridsdale was charged with in 1995 have been disclosed.
In 1995, David Ridsdale was charged with two counts of indecently assaulting a young boy while he was a youth leader, and he pled guilty. He was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond, the magistrate noting that his history of being abused may have led to his own abusing.
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