AUSTRALIA
7 News
JOEL CRESSWELL
April 8, 2014
To serial pedophile Gerald Francis Ridsdale, violating children was “the Lord’s work”.
That’s what he told one of his 53 victims as he assaulted the nine-year-old altar boy.
Ridsdale began befriending, isolating and preying on vulnerable children almost as soon as he was ordained as a priest in 1961.
It was not until 1993 that his atrocities caught up with him, with his first jail stint.
He has remained in jail since 1994 and the 79-year-old is almost certain to die in prison after Victorian County Court Chief Judge Michael Rozenes sentenced him for another eight years on the latest charges on Tuesday.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.