Australia’s Notorious Pedophile Priest Ridsdale Passes Away

One of Australia’s worst pedophiles, defrocked Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale, has passed away at the age of 90.

Ridsdale, who was convicted of abusing over 70 children over a span of three decades, died on Feb. 18 in the morning while in prison.

His history of child abuse started in 1961, the same year he was ordained as a priest.

For the next thirty years, he abused many children across regional Victoria, often leveraging his position as a priest to gain the trust of his victims and their families.

Ridsdale had been incarcerated since 1994 for the abuse of more than 70 children in Victoria.

Additionally, he faced accusations of abusing children in New South Wales and the United States, where he underwent church-related sex offender treatment.

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He was later charged with numerous other offenses following the investigations by the Sano Taskforce, established by Victoria Police to probe historical and recent allegations of child sexual abuse involving religious and non-government organizations.

These multiple charges and his court appearances earned him the title of Australia’s worst pedophile priest.

During Ridsdale’s 1994 plea hearing, witnesses revealed how he was transferred from one parish to another when abuse claims emerged.

The 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse confirmed that higher-ups in the church indeed relocated Ridsdale to different parishes to avoid scandal after allegations of child abuse arose.

The commission found that the Diocese of Ballarat had been aware of Ridsdale’s actions since the 1960s and by 1982, then-Bishop of Ballarat Ronald Mulkearns knew of Ridsdale’s offenses.

He confessed to eight more sexual assault charges against children as recently as August of last year.

Ridsdale, a native of Ballarat, appeared frail in his last court appearance and was excused from attending recent mentions due to his health.

During his last hearing, it was stated that Ridsdale was in chronic pain and likely needed palliative care.

He was only asked to plead guilty during the hearing, to which he responded with “I’m guilty.”

Due to his declining health, Ridsdale was unable to attend earlier hearings for offenses committed in various regional Victorian towns between 1973 and 1981.

Ridsdale was serving a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison after admitting to sexually abusing at least 72 children in the 1970s and 1980s while serving as a Catholic priest in numerous schools and churches across Victoria.

He suffered a fall in November 2022 and was bedridden, experiencing chronic pain, muscle atrophy, and weakened limbs.