Notorious paedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale
Gerald Ridsdale was born in 1934 and grew up in Ballarat, Western Victoria. According to church documents, Ridsdale started offending against children during his seminary in the late 1950’s and again immediately after he was ordained in 1961. Despite the Bishop learning of this offending, Ridsdale continued as a priest and continued to abuse children.
In some parishes, Ridsdale lasted only months or weeks. Early in his posting at the Inglewood parish in 1975, he fled from town overnight after some victims reported his crimes to the police.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, Ridsdale was “evacuated” from the Ballarat Diocese to spend “time out” in Sydney, Melbourne and the United States. Between these timeouts, he went back to be posted in the Ballarat Diocese.
Victoria Police first laid charges in 1993 and Ridsdale was summed to the Melbourne Magistrates Court, charged with 30 incidents of indecent assault involving 9 boys. Ridsdale pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 months jail.
In 1994 Ridsdale was charged again, making it a total of 21 victims and was sentenced to 18 years.
In 2006 Ridsdale faced further charges and he again, pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to a further 4 years.
In 2014 Ridsdale was sentenced to 8 more years in jail, with a minimum of 5 years before becoming eligible for parole on 30 additional charges against 14 victims.
In 2017 and 2022 Ridsdale pleaded guilty to further charges.
In June 2023 Gerald Ridsdale pleaded guilty to a further charge, bringing the formers priests charges to a total of 192. He is currently serving a near 40 year sentence and is expected to be eligible for parole in 2027. He will be sentenced to for this charge in August 2023.
Paedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale was stationed at the following places
- Ballarat Cathedral Parish;
- Mildura;
- Swan Hill;
- Warrnambool;
- East Ballarat;
- Apollo Bay;
- Inglewood;
- EdenHope;
- Melbourne;
- Mortlake;
- Parishes in the Diocese of Sydney and Broken Bay;
- Horsham;
- Locum work in the USA; and
- Western Sydney.
Seeking Legal Assistance for Institutional Child Abuse Survivors
The team at Stacks Goudkamp have acted for a number of survivors who were sexually abused by Priests in the Diocese of Ballarat, Victoria and Archdiocese of Melbourne. If you or someone you know has been impacted by institutional child abuse institutional child abuse, then please contact Stacks Goudkamp for a free, no obligation and confidential meeting on 02 9237 2222 or toll free on 1800 251 800 or find more information on choosing the right institutional abuse lawyer.
