AUSTRALIA
SBS
After harrowing stories of abuse from survivors, the child abuse royal commission will next week hear from Australia’s worst pedophile priest.
Source: AAP
Australia’s worst pedophile priest, Gerald Francis Ridsdale, will be grilled for at least two days at the child abuse royal commission next week.
A major focus of the commission’s Ballarat hearing is who was responsible for moving Ridsdale from parish to parish, allowing him to continue to offend, and why.
It may end up being Ridsdale who gives the commission much of the information it needs in its investigation.
Ridsdale will give evidence via video-link from jail on Wednesday and Thursday, and into Friday if necessary.
The royal commission’s investigation is far from over and yet senior counsel assisting, Gail Furness SC, has already indicated it has uncovered evidence that church figures knew of the abuse in the early 1960s.
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