Jailed Australia paedophile priest sentenced for more abuse

Gerald Ridsdale is now known to have abused 65 people

SYDNEY: Australia's most notorious paedophile priest was on Thursday sentenced to another 11 years behind bars for sexually abusing a dozen children, with the judge saying he knew "no boundaries".

Gerald Ridsdale - already in jail after earlier convictions for more than 100 offences - is now known to have abused 65 people.

"Your actions were violent and abusive. You abused your position of power and trust over each of your complainants," Judge Irene Lawson said in the County Court of Victoria, Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper reported.



"You knew at all times what you were doing was wrong. You knew no boundaries, on occasion offending in your church, in the confessional and in various presbyteries."

The court was told that one of Ridsdale's victims was a young girl left on a church altar by her father to be raped by him, the newspaper reported.

Ridsdale, 83, has been in prison since 1994 and was due to be eligible for parole in 2019. The parole date is now 2022, with some of the new sentences served concurrently with his current jail term.



Australia ordered a national inquiry, or Royal Commission, in 2012 after a decade of growing pressure to investigate allegations of paedophilia across the nation. It has heard claims of child abuse involving churches, orphanages, community, sports and youth groups and schools.