NAZARETH NUNS ABUSED US ALL; Family to sue the Poor Sisters who are worth pounds 154m.
THEY should have been safe - yet they were innocents who became victims through no fault of their own.Their mother was dead, their father unable to look after them, and the family turned to nuns for help.
The McGuigans - three brothers and three sisters - spoke yesterday of their trust in the Poor Sisters of Nazareth.
But they claim that trust was exploited in the most wicked way when they were systematically abused by nuns and sexually molested by other carers.
Sadly, their harrowing story isn't unique.
Over the past few weeks hundreds of people who grew up in four Nazareth Children's homes - in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Lasswade and Kilmarnock - have come forward to talk about their own experiences.
The McGuigans went into the Aberdeen home in 1957. Jimmy was four-years- old at the time, his brothers Peter, three, Frank seven, sister Eleanor, five, Margaret six and Joan ten.
They were split up - a family no more.
Jimmy recalls the sadistic treatment he received including being beaten and having his arm broken.
He said: "My brother Frank was a bit naughty and we were all tagged as being his family and naughty as well.
"We were beaten with sticks. It was the same nun all the time.
"We were beaten for walking too fast or too slow along the corridors."
Margaret is close to tears remembering the time she wet the bed.
She said: "I was only a wee girl, but I could hear them going round the dormitory checking everyone's clothes.
"The nun dragged me out of bed and made me kneel in front of her cell - just a wee room partitioned off."
Many children recall similar incidents when they did something wrong and were made to stand in near-boiling water, thrown in a cold bath, or forced to put their hands on a radiator turned up to full heat.
Fred Aitken, 65, of Edinburgh, a resident of the Lasswade house, added: "They crucified us, they simply crucufied us. The nuns to us were next to God and we would think they were right, and that it was us that were wrong."
Perhaps most shocking of all was the sexual abuse alleged by many of the former residents.
Jimmy revealed: "I was a target. This guy was like a kind old gentleman and he used to give us sweets and ask us if we got any pocket money, which we didn't. He used to talk you into it and get you into the boxing shed.
"Then it would start off with him spanking you for a penny a smack.
"After a while it would be something else like touching, and then it would go on."
Jimmy turned to the nuns to tell them what was going on. "They said I was telling wicked lies," he said.
"After that he got hold of me on my own and I learned you couldn't win and you just allowed it to happen."
Now 40 years on, Jimmy and his family are joining more than 250 others to fight back - they are suing the Sisters of Nazareth.
And if their claims are successful, it could cost the nuns millions of pounds.
However, the Poor Sisters of Nazareth are far from poor. Their latest accounts shows the organisation is worth a staggering pounds 154 million.
Six test cases are currently being prepared and if the victims are successful, it would open the floodgates.
BBC Scotland examine the scandal in their Frontline Scotland Programme tonight.
The Sister's of Nazareth refuse to speak about the alleg-ations.
Their lawyers say they will challenge any allegations in court.
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| Author: | King, Steve |
|---|---|
| Publication: | The Mirror (London, England) |
| Date: | Feb 10, 1998 |
| Words: | 598 |
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