Beating ‘straw that broke camel’s back’ for Smyllum victim

A BOY of six allegedly beaten by a nun days before his death may have struggled to recover from an infection as a result of the ‘trauma’, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Professor Anthony Busuttil, a forensic pathologist who worked on the Lockerbie and Dunblane tragedies, said Sammy Carr was underdeveloped and may have been malnourished.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard neglect at Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark may have affected his immune system before he succumbed to an infection – possibly from a dead rat. While the alleged attack was not the cause of Sammy’s death, Professor Busuttil told inquiry chairman Lady Smith: ‘It’s a question of the straw that broke the camel’s back.’

The Edinburgh inquiry has previously been told the boy was kicked by a nun ten days before he died in 1964. Professor Busuttil reviewed medical records and found Sammy died from a brain haemorrhage caused by an infection.

He had been seen by his sister playing with a dead rat, and Professor Busuttil said 40 per cent of rats carried E.coli.

He told the inquiry: ‘Based on the incomplete medical evidence, it appears trauma following an alleged assault did not have a direct or indirect part to play in the death.’ Given Sammy’s ‘low body weight’ it was possible ‘he may have been suffering from