Gerald Ridsdale victims told unlikely to see a cent from the paedophile priest
FOUR victims of notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale have been told they’re unlikely to see a cent from the depraved monster.
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FOUR victims of notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale want him to pay for his sins, but have been told they’re unlikely to see a cent from the depraved monster.
The victims have launched a claim for compensation in the County Court where Ridsdale appeared today via videolink.
But Judge Irene Lawson told a lawyer representing the group that Ridsdale had written a letter to the court outlining his financial position and questioned whether the victims had tried other avenues for compensation.
The court heard they are currently in negotiations with the Catholic diocese of Ballarat, where Ridsdale committed the majority of his offending, for redress.
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It was Judge Lawson who last year effectively killed Ridsdale’s chance of ever leaving prison where he has been held since 1994.
He was due for possible parole as early as next year but Judge Lawson added another three years to his minimum term after he admitted dozens of new offences.
The new minimum, moving Ridsdale’s earliest possible release date to 2022, came despite lawyers for the 84-year-old urging Judge Lawson not to interfere with his chance of being freed.
Sources have told the Herald Sun Ridsdale is resigned to the fact he will die in prison, and just wants to be left alone.
He has pleaded to a total of 161 indictable charges since his initial arrest in 1993, but he has admitted the true victim count is in the hundreds.
And he has blamed the Catholic Church for allowing his horrific history of offending to go unstopped.
He was shuffled between parishes and sent for counselling but never reported to authorities despite church authorities knowing about his offending from before his ordination.
Judge Lawson said she had never seen abuse on the scale of that dished out by Ridsdale.
“This is the worst example of this sort of offending, it’s never been dealt with in the state of Victoria,” she said during his plea last year.
“Your actions were violent and abusive. You abused your position of power and trust over each of your complainants,” Judge Lawson said.
“You knew at all times what you were doing was wrong. You knew no boundaries, on occasion offending in your church, in the confessional and in various presbyteries.”
Judge Lawson said Ridsdale not only exploited vulnerable children, he sometimes threatened them if they disclosed the abuse.
He told one victim the abuse was “God’s work” while another was told if he said anything bad things would happen to his family.
The horrific ordeal of one young girl whose father left her on a church altar to be raped by Ridsdale moved the County Court to tears when it was revealed.