Nun denies allegations of beating kids

AN elderly nun has denied children were beaten, force-fed and humiliated at a controversial care institution.

The 92-year-old woman told Scotland’s Child Abuse Inquiry she had not witnessed any cruelty or struck any youngsters herself during her time at Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark.

She told the inquiry she was based there from 1957 to 1964 and insisted it was a “happy place”, not one where physical and emotional abuse took place.

The witness said it came as a “shock” to her to hear allegations emerge about the home and said she “wouldn’t dream” of abusing children in her care.

“If I did, I would have it on my conscience to the end of my days,” she told the hearing.

The public inquiry sitting in Edinburgh is continuing to hear evidence about life at Smyllum Park, which closed in the 1980s.

Former residents of the home have previously testified about receiving beatings and ill-treatment at the home, run by the nuns of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.

The retired sister, who cannot be identified, gave evidence from behind a screen as the inquiry moved into hearing from those who worked at the institution.

Colin MacAulay QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked the witness about evidence that children who wet the bed would be humiliated and punished.

“No, that didn’t happen and I didn’t see it in any group either,” she said. “I never saw anybody doing that to a child.”

She described the food as “adequate”, if not varied, and said the children were never hungry.

Asked about claims the residents would be force-fed food, she replied: “No, that never happened. I never heard about that at all.”

She also denied the children would have to queue up to have a bath in the same water, saying a “marvellous” showering system was used during her time there.