Australian ex-priest has prison sentence extended to 40 years for molesting 72nd child victim

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian ex-priest convicted of sexually abusing children has had another 12 months added to his 39-year prison sentence for molesting a 72nd victim. Gerald Ridsdale has been in prison since 1994 for for abusing children between 1961 and 1988 while he worked as a Roman Catholic priest in churches and schools across his home state of Victoria. He was sentenced in the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Tuesday to an additional year after he pleaded guilty in June to indecently assaulting a 13-year-old boy while he worked at a Catholic school in Horsham in 1987. Ridsdale appeared in court via a video link from a hospital prison bed. He kept his eyes closed throughout the hearing.