AUSTRALIA
ABC News
A priest who visited convicted paedophile Gerald Ridsdale in prison says no-one within the Catholic Church at the time fully understood the effect Ridsdale’s abuse had on his victims, and many believed he could change.
Ridsdale, an 81-year-old former priest, this week gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat.
He is currently at Ararat Prison, where he is serving an eight-year sentence for the rape and abuse of children.
The commission heard his offending first came to the attention of a bishop in 1961, but he was left to assault possibly hundreds of victims over the next three decades.
Ridsdale admitted the church should have notified authorities about his offending, saying “What I’ve done and the damage that I’ve done … I’d say, definitely”.
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