AUSTRALIA
9 News
Victims of clergy abuse have said they are “disappointed” over pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale’s lack of memory of key details on who in the Catholic Church knew about his abusing.
Today, Ridsdale told the Royal Commission he was “out of control” abusing children, and admitted he did not tell anyone for fears of being defrocked.
Appearing today before the commission’s Ballarat hearing into institutional responses to child sex abuse via videolink from jail, Ridsdale has repeatedly referred to the prosecutor’s notes and has struggled to remember much of his previous testimony and the circumstances of his offending, including the names of some of his many victims.
Clergy abuse victim Andrew Collins spoke outside court and said victims are bitterly disappointed Ridsdale did not reveal who in the church hierarchy knew about his offending and moved him to other parishes.
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