- An 85-year-old priest from Victoria,
Australia , has been sentenced to more jail time after admitting to further abuse against young boys in the 1970s. - Ridsdale has been in prison since 1994 and has been convicted of 179 offenses against 69 victims between the years of 1961 and 1988.
- On Thursday, Victorian County Court Judge Gerard Mullaly extended Ridsdale's sentence for at least another three years, making his earliest release date 2025. He said the extended sentence meant Ridsdale is "more likely to die in custody."
- An unredacted Australian Royal Commission investigation released earlier this month found that senior figures in the
Catholic Church , including CardinalGeorge Pell , knew about Ridsdale's abuse and protected him. - Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
An 85-year-old priest from Victoria, Australia, has been sentenced to more jail time after admitting to further abuse of young boys in the 1970s.
According to court documents, Gerald Ridsdale was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1961 and jumped from parish to parish in several cities, including Ballarat and Warrnambool, allegedly committing sexual offenses at each one.
Ridsdale has been in prison since 1994 and has been convicted of 179 offenses against 69 victims between the years of 1961 and 1988. His offenses include dozens of counts of indecent assault and child sexual abuse.
On Thursday, Victorian County Court Judge Gerard Mullaly extended Ridsdale's sentence for at least another three years, making his earliest release date 2025.
Mullaly said that the extended sentence "may well mean that you are, as a consequence, more likely to die in custody."
Ridsdale pleaded guilty to 14 sexual offenses against four young male victims from 1970 to 1979. According to Mullaly, Ridsdale befriended one of his victim's families and frequently visited their home. Two other victims were brothers.
In Ridsdale hearing last month, the court heard that one of the victims, who was seven years old at the beginning of the abuse, never learned to read or write because Ridsdale used to read to him during his assaults.
Ridsdale's defense said that when things escalated in one particular city, the priest knew he would be moved on to another parish.
During Ridsdale's sentencing in 2006, Judge Bill White said that his conduct "plummets to the depths of evil hypocrisy." White criticized the Catholic church for not taking action on complaints made about Ridsdale's known activities.
"The Catholic Church cannot escape criticism in view of its lack of action on complaints being made as to your conduct, the constant moving of you from parish to parish, providing you with more opportunity for your predatory conduct, and its failures to show adequate compassion for a number of your victims," White said in 2006.
An unredacted Australian Royal Commission investigation released earlier this month found that senior figures in the Catholic Church, including Cardinal George Pell, knew about Ridsdale's abuse and protected him.
The commission alleged that Pell should have done more to prevent sexual abuse and remove clergymen who were known to have committed sexual abuse.
Pell has continuously denied knowing about sexual abuse in Ballarat churches while he served as a priest there in the 1970s and 1980s.
According to The Guardian, the commission noted allegations that Pell tried to bribe a sexual abuse survivor from Ballarat named David Risdale into keeping quiet about his abuse at the hands of Ridsdale, who is his uncle.
The commission said it was satisfied that Pell "turned his mind" to Ridsdale taking the boys on overnight camps. The report said that Pell acknowledged that the likely reason for this "was the possibility that if priests were one-on-one with a child then they could sexually abuse a child or at least provoke gossip about such a prospect."
Pell was previously convicted of sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys at a Melbourne church, though his historic conviction was overturned last month.
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