Gerry Francis Ridsdale
Gerry Francis Ridsdale (* 1934 ) is an Australian priest who took advantage of his position to sexually abuse children. His crimes are among the better known cases of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Australia .
Bishop Ronald Austin Mulkearns had been aware of the problems with Ridsdale since 1975. Ridsdale was transferred to several parishes. In 1994 Ridsdale was convicted. He was found guilty of abuse in 46 cases involving 21 victims over a period of two decades.
Dozens of other victims have reported to the police over the years. By 2006, 54 other cases of abuse had been detected in four trials in Ridasdale.
In the fifth trial since entering prison, Ridsdale pleaded guilty again on 23 counts. He was sentenced to an additional 11 years in prison in 2017.
According to The Guardian newspaper , he was found to have been abused by a total of 65 victims during his tenure between 1961 and 1988.
Footnotes
- ^ Former priest pleads guilty to child abuse . In: ABC News , August 7, 2006 ( online )
- ↑ Gerald Ridsdale. Broken Rites Website ( online )
- ↑ How a priest stole a boy's innocence. In: The Age , June 8, 2002 ( online )
- ↑ Ballarat's good men of the cloth. In: The Age , 14 June 2002 ( online )
- ↑ Victims slam pedophile sentence. In: The Age , August 11, 2006 ( online )
- ↑ Sex abuse victims want inquiry. In: The Herald Sun , January 16, 2008 ( online )
- ↑ spiegel.de August 31, 2017: Australian priest sentenced to long imprisonment
- ^ Theguardian.com: Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale sentenced to 11 more years in jail
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ridsdale, Gerry Francis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian priest |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1934 |