AUSTRALIA
International Business Times
By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | April 9, 2014
Victims of convicted paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale are set to sue the Ballarat Catholic diocese in Australia.
On Tuesday, Judge Michael Rozenes sentenced Mr Ridsdale to an 8-year jail term with a minimum non-parole period of five years for the sexual abuse of 14 children during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The 80-year-old former priest is expected to die in prison serving his jail term.
Vivian Waller, counsel of the 20 people whom Mr Ridsdale victimised, said she has been instructed to file a lawsuit against the Diocese of Ballarat on the note that Mr Ridsdale remained a priest even after it was already known he was a sexual predator because of the church’s deliberate negligence and cover-ups.
“(We’ll be) noting indeed that the Archdiocese of Melbourne knew since 1975 that Ridsdale was a sexual offender and failed to report these matters to the police or even to take Ridsdale out of circulation and contact with children,” she said.
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