Australia: Pedophile Catholic priest's offending unprecedented

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"He has preyed upon the most vulnerable of the vulnerable, seeking out victims for whom their families are already in trauma and tragedy."

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | AU Desk
Source/Credit: The West Australian
By Megan Neil | August 15, 2017

Australia's worst pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale spent three decades sexually abusing vulnerable children in unprecedented offending a prosecutor argues demands an unprecedented sentence.

A judge who agrees Ridsdale's case is the worst example of such offending ever dealt with in Victoria must now decide whether the 83-year-old spends even longer in jail for the historical crimes.

Ridsdale's offending took place over such a long period of time, involved so many people and destroyed so many lives that the interests of justice demand a sentence that could properly be called unprecedented, crown prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams said.

"It is hard to imagine a man who has had a more devastating effect on those who have had the misfortune of coming into contact with him," Mr McWilliams told the Victorian County Court on Wednesday.

"He has preyed upon the most vulnerable of the vulnerable, seeking out victims for whom their families are already in trauma and tragedy, and using that trauma and tragedy to advance his own criminal pursuits of gratification among children.

"It must be among the worst offending these courts have had the misfortune to deal with.

"Unprecedented offending demands an unprecedented sentence."

Ridsdale's latest guilty plea for sex crimes against another 12 children brings his official tally to 65 victims abused over 27 years, although the true number is believed to be in the hundreds.

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