The death of notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale last Tuesday was a “big relief” for Sunbury resident Paul Levey, who hopes to see more men’s counselling services available in Sunbury and beyond.
Ridsdale died in jail at age 90 on Tuesday, February 18, having abused more than 70 children during his time as a Catholic priest.
A survivor of child sexual abuse committed by the former priest, Mr Levey said he was expecting Ridsdale’s death from Monday.
“I heard the day before that his death was imminent and that sort of brought on a bit of anxiety … waiting to hear the next lot of news, but [we’d] heard that he [had] been in palliative care for quite a while,” Mr Levey said.
“I and others were hoping that it wasn’t going to be another … long drawn out wait, so it was under 24 hours that we found out that he’d passed away.
“It’s a mixed bag of emotions for some people. ‘It’s finally over,’ you know? ‘Good riddance’.”
As reported by Star Weekly, Mr Levey has advocated on behalf of other child sexual abuse survivors, including visiting Rome for George Pell’s Royal Commission appearance and advocating locally on behalf of survivors of historic abuse – including at Salesian College.
Mr Levey said in Sunbury and “across the board,” there is still a need for more men’s counselling services.
“I’m glad to see the end of Ridsdale [in] the media … all of that sort of stuff blows up in your face whenever he gets charged or he ends up in court, he’s on the TV, but it’s a little bit of a double-edged sword,” Mr Levey said.
“I find the biggest reason I speak to the media about it is after something like this, we … have two or three, if not more, come forward … I think that’s where that double-edged sword comes in.”
“[For] some people it [can] be traumatic, triggering, and yet other people look at it and go ‘well, if they can do it, I can do it.’”
