"Another Priest" Present When Gerald Ridsdale Abused a Child in His Bedroom, Royal Commission Hears
By Jane Lee
Counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness, SC, asked Ridsdale about his abuse of a child in his bedroom at St Alipius' presbytery, where he lived with George Pell in the early 1970s. Ridsdale has accepted that he lived with Pell at the time, but has told the commission he cannot remember having any dealings with him. Between 1972 and 1973, he abused a girl after she followed him into his bedroom to see his rock collection. The girl believed that there was another priest there for a short time while Ridsdale sexually abused her, but did not intervene. "I accept that's what she believed," Ridsdale said. Counsel assisting the commission said "can you help us with who was the priest?" "I don't know, because I've said I don't know who the other priests were there [living at the presbytery] at the same time, except George Pell." When pressed, he said: "I have no idea of the priests who were there with me in Ballarat East." There were two floors in the presbytery, with two bedrooms on the second level, the commission heard. Ms Furness read official records of who had been living at the presbytery at the time Ridsdale was there, which he accepted. In 1972, Monsignor W. McMahon, Reverend A. McInerny and Reverend W.J. O'Connell were living at the presbytery, she said. In 1973, Monsignor McMahon, Ridsdale and then Reverend George Pell were the only three living there and the following year, in 1974, Monsignor McMahon, George Pell, Reverend O'Connell and Reverend O'Toole were in residence. "I can remember the senior priest, Bill McMahon. I remember him being there. I can't remember any of the others," Ridsdale responded. Ridsdale accepted that he should have never been allowed to become a priest. "What should have been in place at the church to stop you becoming a priest?" commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan asked, to which Ridsdale responded: "There should have been a better screening process … a psychological process that was much more thorough than anything that was conducted then," he said. Justice McClellan then asked whether a bishop had reported his offending to police earlier and whether that would have ended his involvement with the church. "It would have and I'm now sorry that it didn't happen … it would have saved many others," Ridsdale said. Ridsdale said he only stopped offending against children after attending a residential program in New Mexico from 1989 to 1990. He spent two years in the community after finishing the program and before his arrest in 1993 without abusing children, he said. "I wasn't locked up, I would have had opportunities to go to shopping malls, to beaches to anywhere and I'm happy to say that I didn't offend in that period," he said. The New Mexico program had both spiritual and psychological components and was run by the Servants of the Paraclete. Ridsdale said about two-thirds of his group were paedophiles. "I think there were about 30 in our group and my memory of it would be probably two-thirds," he said. Ridsdale may be called to give further evidence towards the end of the year after lawyers for the church requested time to make investigations into what he has already told the commission. "He has covered a lot of ground, he has named a lot of names, many questions have been put to him where he has said he doesn't remember or he doesn't know," Peter Gray, SC, representing the church, told the commissioner. "There are many things which we will need to investigate and check, people we will need to speak to, and that will take some time." Earlier on Thursday, Ridsdale changed his account of how George Pell came to walk him to his first court appearance in 1993, saying he must have approached the then auxilliary bishop for support directly. Although he previously claimed his barrister had arranged for Cardinal Pell to attend, he told the royal commission on Thursday that he "must have" done this personally, given the testimony of another priest, Father Adrian McInerney. Father McInerney told the commission on Tuesday that he had given Ridsdale a character reference in court at his request. "Isn't it the case that you also approached then auxiliary bishop Pell to ask him to give evidence on your behalf?" Ms Furness asked Ridsdale. "Well, it looks like I must have done that, yes," he said. He also accepted that when he approached Cardinal Pell for support that he would have known the nature of the charges against him when he agreed to help. "Yes, he would have known that," Ridsdale said. He also conceded that "it makes sense" that he would have told Cardinal Pell that he intended to plead guilty to the charges, but added: "I just don't remember. What you're saying is making sense and it's logical, but I just don't remember." The commission has heard that there were four bedrooms at the St Alipius presbytery. St Alipius' current parish priest Adrian McInerney told the commission on Tuesday that when he lived there in the late 1960s as an assistant priest, there were two bedrooms, a "box room" or storage room that could double as a bedroom and an ensuite bedroom and office at the front of the house. Father McInerney had lived in the house with Ridsdale for about five months, the commission heard. But Father McInerney said he did not remember Ridsdale being there at the time. The hearing has been adjourned until Friday.
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