Yes, I punched and force-fed children in my care, says nun

A NUN of 77 yesterday admitted carrying out a catalogue of abuse at children’s homes run by a Catholic religious order.

The nun – who cannot be named for legal reasons but uses the pseudonym Sister Anne – said she once forced dolly mixtures into a child’s mouth.

Other children were punched, slapped, smacked and force-fed as the nun meted out brutal punishments at Nazareth House homes in Aberdeen and Lasswade, Midlothian.

But Sister Anne said at the time of the incidents she did not see it as force-feeding – simply ‘encouraging them to eat’.

In a statement given to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) in Edinburgh, she said she was prepared to ‘acknowledge and accept’ she was responsible for the abuse, and had ‘thought deep and hard’ about her actions which she said had led to children being ‘mistreated’.

She said: ‘This is a matter of great regret; I’m sorry and apologise for the hurt I have caused to the persons I have affected.’

The softly spoken nun admitted she punished children by smacking them, ‘probably on the leg or bottom... nothing bare’.

She saw another nun use a hairbrush to hit children on their hands – but she insisted it was not a ‘continual hit, hit, hit’.

This nun was Sister Anne’s superior but she was ‘not a good mentor’, and Sister Anne said she was afraid of being ‘sent home for not obeying a senior sister’, adding: ‘I wanted to be a Sister of Nazareth.’

Asking the nun about an allegation that a girl was abused at the home in Aberdeen, Colin MacAulay, the inquiry’s senior counsel, said: ‘[One accusation says] you did punch her on the head and body, and strike her with a hairbrush. Do you accept that you did that?’ The nun replied: ‘Yes.’ Mr MacAulay said: ‘Do you accept that you did seize hold of her by her hair and drag her around the corridor?’ Sister Anne replied: ‘Yes.’ The same replies came when Mr MacAulay asked if she had ever force-fed a child or pushed a girl to the ground from a swing.

SCAI chairman Lady Smith said ‘it might be thought... you had lost your temper on these occasions... is that what happened?’ Sister Anne said: ‘I would say yes.’

The nun said she was ‘upset to leave’ the Aberdeen home in 1973 when she moved to Lasswade, where she stayed until the number of children began to dwindle.

The inquiry heard a child at the home was forced to eat dolly mixtures as a punishment after sweets had gone missing. The nun said: ‘I always had dolly mixtures for the little ones. I went to get them and they were missing. I just had a few. I said, “You might as well take the rest” and put them in her mouth.’

Sister Anne also claimed another child who alleged beatings she received had caused bruises

‘Drag her around the corridor’

suffered from a condition which left her skin with ‘discoloration’.

Mr MacAulay asked why victims had told the inquiry of other allegations against her – which Sister Anne denies – and the nun wept as she replied: ‘I don’t know.’

Earlier, Sister Bridget Cunningham, 76, who has not been accused of any abuse, gave evidence about her time at Nazareth House in Aberdeen in 1963. She claimed the children ‘appeared happy to me’ and she was not aware of bed-wetting children being humiliated and other youngsters being force-fed.

Sister Bridget said the children were not ‘the type that would want you to be hugging [them]’ as ‘they were quite aloof and had their own problems’.

She said she would have reported any humiliation or beatings for wetting the bed to the Mother Superior if she had witnessed any such treatment.

Asked if she would have seen this behaviour as ‘abuse’, she said: ‘I would not say “abuse” at that time… It would be very cruel.’ Under questioning, she conceded: ‘I suppose it would be [abuse].’

But Sister Bridget said she did ‘apologise if any child has been abused in the care of the Sisters’.

The inquiry continues.