Court Hears Pedophile Priest Said Sex Abuse Was ‘The Lord’s Work’
Ridsdale, 79, appeared in the County Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to 30 charges involving sex offences against 11 boys and three girls between 1961 and 1980.
Wearing glasses and a woollen jumper, Ridsdale needed a walking frame to make his way into the dock and kept his head bowed during the plea hearing.
Crown prosecutor Susan Borg said that one of Ridsdale’s victims had been a ward of the state at the Nazareth House orphanage in Ballarat when he preyed on her from 1962 to 1964, when she was aged 10 to 13.
On one occasion, Ridsdale wiped away the girl’s tears after abusing her and told her what had happened was ”our little secret”. He told the girl he loved her and she was his special little girl before giving her a white bag of boiled lollies.
When the young girl decided to tell one of the nuns what Ridsdale was doing to her, she was told ”good little girls don’t talk about such things - off you go”.
In her victim impact statement, the woman told the court that she had trusted Ridsdale because ”he represented God and all that was good”.
More: Court Hears Paedophile Priest Said Sex Abuse Was ‘The Lord’s Work’