Evil priest Gerald Ridsdale is Victoria’s worst paedophile: judge
A JUDGE who was brought to tears by the evil crimes of Gerald Ridsdale says there is no doubt the priest is Victoria’s worst paedophile after admitting to 23 new crimes against children.
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A JUDGE brought to tears by the evil crimes of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale says there is no doubt: he is our worst paedophile.
“We can all agree, this is the worst example of this sort of offending, it’s never been dealt with in the state of Victoria,” judge Irene Lawson said of Ridsdale’s offending today.
Ridsdale has returned to the County Court today where a plea hearing is continuing after he admitted 23 new crimes against children.
LEGAL AID: GIVE PAEDO PRIEST CHANCE OF PAROLE
It brings his official tally to 64 victims and well over 100 charges, but even he admits the real number of his victims run into the hundreds.
Prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams this morning outlined sentencing submissions on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions, who says the seriousness of Ridsdale’s offending calls for an unprecedented sentence.
“It’s unprecedented offending and it demands an unprecedented sentence, in my submission,” he said.
“In the search for comparable cases, there are no comparable cases.
“It is hard to imagine a man who has had a more devastating effect upon all of those who have had the misfortune of coming into contact with him.”
Ridsdale’s lawyer, Tim Marsh, has urged Judge Lawson not to interfere with his client’s current earliest non-parole date of April 8, 2019.
“Mr Ridsdale is clearly a repugnant figure to many, for reasons that are only too understandable,” he said.
“The task for this court is not to pass a sentence that addresses community sentiment, but to impose a sentence that’s just in all the circumstances and applies the fundamentals of sentencing law.”
Ridsdale, 83, pleaded guilty in the court to 23 offences, including rape, buggery, indecent assault and sexual penetration of 11 boys and a girl in the 1960s to 1980s.
Ridsdale has been in jail since 1994, and would have served 25 years by the time he is currently due for parole, or 28 years if he completes the whole of his current term.
But Mr Marsh, arguing the case was unusual in that there had been four prosecutions over his 30-year career of evil, said had he faced all charges, including the current ones, in 1994 he would be unlikely to have got a sentence longer than the one he is now serving.
Mr Marsh relied on High Court authorities to support his case.
Conceding his argument was a bold one, Mr Marsh said: “It is difficult to imagine in this day and age … a more sustained episode of offending than that which … Mr Ridsdale’s history describes,” he said.”
Mr Marsh said Ridsdale no longer posed a risk to the community, but in any event, even if released, would likely be subject to supervision.
But he said his client had done his time.
“At some point a court will need to say this man has served enough time in prison, in my submission that time is now,” he said.
Judge Lawson, like others in court, was brought to tears yesterday after hearing details of Ridsdale’s offending.
The court heard one girl, abused by Ridsdale over more than two years in the 1970s, was personally delivered to the priest up by her father.
On one occasion, she was woken in the night and driven to a Ballarat church where Ridsdale was waiting.
Her dad stripped her and Ridsdale abused her on the altar.
Another time, after her dad woke her and drove her to the church, Ridsdale raped the then eight-year-old, telling her: “Jesus died for our sins so we can be forgiven, and if I confess to this sin I might be forgiven as well.”
Ridsdale will be sentenced on August 31.