Father Terrence Pidoto

Father Terrence Melville Pidoto was born in Melbourne on 12 December 1944. In 1964, he entered the Corpus Christi College seminary in Melbourne to train as a priest. He was 19 at the time. In 1971, at the age of 26, he was ordained as a priest. Father Pidoto was a busy priest who served at many institutions and schools in Victoria throughout his service with the Catholic Church. They include the following (amongst others):

  • Donald in the Diocese of Ballarat (1971) (minister);

  • Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Melbourne (1971) (chaplain);

  • Balwyn North (St Bede’s Parish) (1972) (assistant priest);

  • Marcellin College Bulleen, Melbourne (1972) (part-time chaplain and school counsellor, who prided himself on his massages and how many he had done on boys at the school)

  • Scouts Victoria (involved with their camps and as a airplane pilot often took boys in a light aircraft on trips);

  • Kilmore (St Patrick’s Parish) (1975) (chaplain for Police Scouts);

  • Assumption College Kilmore (1975) (part-time chaplain and continued massaging boys at the school)

  • Box Hill North (St Clare’s Parish) (late 1970s);

  • Clifton Hill (St John the Baptist Parish) (approximately 1979 or 1980);

  • Heidelberg West (St Pius X Parish) (early 1980s);

  • Croydon (St Edmund’s Parish) ( 1980s) (associated with a Catholic scouts group);

  • Yea (Sacred Heart Parish) (1988 to 1997, approximately) (in charge of the parish).

In 1999, Father Pidoto was charged on summons concerning eight incidents of sexual abuse involving three complainants. One complainant was from Kilmore, one from Yea and the other from Marcellin College. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Before the committal hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court in October 1999, the complainant from Yea dropped his charges against Father Pidoto. The Court allowed a separation of trials for the two remaining complainants. In 2000, after the jury was not able to come up with a unanimous verdict in the Kilmore allegations, it was discharged and the court ordered a retrial. In 2001, the second jury found Father Pidoto guilty on four counts of indecent assault in relation to the Kilmore allegations. He was declared a serious sex offender and sentenced to three years jail eligible for parole after 18 months. The ODPP decided afterwards not to proceed with a trial involving the Marcellin College student.

In 2002, Father Pidoto won an appeal against his conviction. However, in 2005, Victoria Police decided to charge Father Pidoto over other allegations made against him. The ODPP consequently chose seven complainants for the new trial. In 2007, Father Pidoto was found guilty of 11 charges of buggery and indecent assault against 4 boys and was sentenced to 7 years and 3 months jail, min of 5 years to be served before parole.

In 2014, Father Pidoto was released from jail after completing his sentence. However, during his time in prison, new allegations were made against him leading to Victoria Police charging him again with new offences upon his release. Father Pidoto died in 2015, a week before he was required to attend the Melbourne County Court for a preliminary mention.

Moody Law is currently representing a client against the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne and the Marist Brothers over allegations of sexual and physical abuse by Father Terry Pidoto while he was a student at Marcellin College in Bulleen, Melbourne.

We invite former victims of Father Terrence Pidoto to contact us with what information they may have, and we will confidentially explain what options are available to help with these cases.

Call us or complete the confidential enquiry form below.