Police to quiz pedophile priest


Pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale will be investigated over more claims of sexual assault at St Alipius in Ballarat.

Ballarat detectives will question Ridsdale, who is now in Victoria's Ararat jail serving a minimum of 15 years after pleading guilty to 46 serious sexual assault charges involving children.

As well, they will interview Christian Brother Robert Best over new allegations he had sexually assaulted a student at St Alipius. Best was given a nine-month suspended jail sentence in 1996 after being convicted of indecently assaulting schoolboys.

The two latest victims alleged that Ridsdale and Best assaulted them at St Alipius in the early 1970s. They are believed to have taken their complaints to the police sexual offences squad in Melbourne, which were then referred to Ballarat CIB.

Meanwhile in Queensland, 11 alleged victims of self-confessed pedophile Father Michael Joseph McArdle have come forward seeking to lay charges against the Catholic priest.

The men, who alleged they were abused in the 1960s through to the 1980s, contacted police after The Courier-Mail last Saturday revealed that McArdle had admitted to abusing children and had never been charged.

LINKS
Public apology for Rockhampton priest's sex abuse (16/5/02)

SOURCE
Herald-Sun/Courier-Mail


21 Jun 2002