Pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale committed ‘most serious and abhorrent’ series of crimes

Gerald Ridsdale is likely to die in jail after pleading guilty to a 72nd historic sexual crime.

George Pell with Father Gerald Ridsdale outside court, on 15 August 1993. Picture: Geoff AMPT.

One of Australia’s worst pedophile priests, Gerald Ridsdale, has pleaded guilty to another historical sexual crime after a 72nd victim came forward.

Ridsdale, now 89 years old, admitted to indecently touching a 13-year-old schoolboy in 1987 when he lived at the Saint Michael and John’s Catholic Primary School presbytery in Horsham, 350km northwest of Melbourne.

It brings the total number of charges brought against him to 192, over a period of 30 years.

The Ballarat Magistrates Court heard Ridsdale inappropriately touched the young boy’s genitals on the outside of his clothing for between five and 10 seconds, before the schoolboy quickly left the room.

The priest had previously addressed the schoolboy’s class, spoke to him in the schoolyard and within a counsellor’s office before telling him on one occasion: “You’re a young, strong fella” and touching him on the arm and the “bum” on another.

The victim, who cannot be identified, did not provide the court with an impact statement, but a police prosecutor read aloud part of his witness statement.

“I feel like I dodged a bullet … it is nothing in comparison to other kids. I have told my partner … that something had happened to me,” the court heard.

“I haven't told anyone else. This comes into my head every now and again. The George Pell stuff brought it up.

“Weirdly, I feel lucky. It definitely affected my trust in people.”

The court also heard “the Brittany Higgins stuff” brought up the incident for the victim.

A lawyer for Ridsdale acknowledged his client’s offending was prolific, taking place between 1961 and 1988. “It is the most serious and abhorrent series of ­offending,” he said.

As a result, Ridsdale is serving a total of 39 years in prison and is likely to die in jail.

His health “significantly” deteriorated in early 2021 and since November last year he has been bed bound after a fall.

The only time he leaves his bed is when he is hoisted into a chair at St John’s patient unit at Port Phillip prison. At the time “palliative care was being considered”, the court heard.

Ridsdale’s lawyer said in his later years, he started to acknowledge some of the “harm” he had caused and the “disturbed and selfish thought processes he was subject to at the time the offending occurred”.

According to a psychiatrist’s report, Ridsdale suffers from a personality disorder that likely “contributed” to his offending.

The matter was adjourned to August 15.