Gerald Francis Ridsdale is a convicted child molester

Child sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...

 who abused children while working as a Catholic

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

.

Early life

Gerald Francis Ridsdale was born at St Arnaud, Victoria, in western Victoria, the eldest of eight children. He grew up in Ballarat, Victoria

Ballarat, Victoria

Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth...

.

Career and allegations of offences

Ridsdale worked at St Alipius Boy's School in the early 1970s, where he was a chaplain. At his 1994 trial it was claimed that he had been sent to a psychologist as early as 1971, though Bishop Ronald Austin Mulkearns claimed he had no idea of Ridsdale's actions until 1975, when the priest was in Inglewood, Victoria

Inglewood, Victoria

Inglewood is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Calder Highway, in the Shire of Loddon. At the 2006 census, Inglewood had a population of 834...

. One parent claimed that Ridsdale had molested their son, but they were reluctant to let the boy be questioned by police and the priest had moved. A police officer involved with the case spoke to Mulkearns; the latter promised to handle Ridsdale, but moved him on instead. In 1976, Ridsdale was moved to Edenhope, Victoria

Edenhope, Victoria

Edenhope is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Wimmera Highway, 30 kilometres from the South Australian border, in the Shire of West Wimmera local government area...

.

Operation Arcadia — a three-month police investigation into what Mulkearns knew about Ridsdale — concluded that he knew about Ridsdale's crimes earlier than he admitted.

Ridsdale was moved in 1980 to the National Pastoral Institute in Elsternwick, in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

. In 1981 he was moved to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. He was moved to Horsham, Victoria

Horsham, Victoria

Horsham is the largest city by population and regional centre of the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia and is approximately north-west of Melbourne via the Western Highway. At the 2006 census, Horsham had a population of 14,125. Horsham is in the federal Division of Mallee...

 in 1986; there, two people made complaints about him in 1988. In 1990, Ridsdale was sent to New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

. He was appointed chaplain at St. John of God hospital in Richmond, New South Wales

Richmond, New South Wales

Richmond is a town in New South Wales, north-west of Sydney, in the Local Government Area of the City of Hawkesbury. It is located at a latitude of 33° 35' 54" South and a longitude of 150°45' 04" east, 19 metres above sea level on the alluvial Hawkesbury River flats, at the foot of the Blue...

. While he was working there, a victim phoned Victoria police, leading to Risdale's arrest three months later.

Trials

In 1993 Ridsdale was first put on trial on charges of sexually abusing children. He was jailed in 1994 after pleading guilty to 46 charges of abusing 21 victims over two decades. He was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment with a minimum of 15 years.

In 2006 he pleaded guilty to 35 charges relating to indecent assault

Indecent assault

Indecent assault is an offence of aggravated assault in many jurisdictions. It is characterised as a sex crime.Indecent assault was an offence in England and Wales under sections 14 and 15 the Sexual Offences Act 1956...

 against 10 boys. He was sentenced in 2006 to 13 years imprisonment and with a minimum of seven years. A few of his victims criticised the sentence.

Activism by victims

In 2008, 14 of Ridsdale's victims formed a group to lobby the Department of Justice

Department of Justice (Victoria)

The Department of Justice is one of ten departments of the Government of the State of Victoria, Australia.The main purpose of the department is to assist the government achieve its vision of a safe and just Victoria...

for an independent justice commission to investigate how victims were paid varying amounts of compensation by the Catholic Church.