Girl attacked by man she was told was her father, inquiry hears

A girl was sexually attacked by a man she was told was her father after being taken away for the day from a children’s home, an inquiry has heard.

A witness told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) she was around nine years old when she was assaulted by the man who was a “stranger” to her during her time as a resident at Nazareth House in Cardonald, Glasgow.

“I’d like to know why he was allowed to come and take us,” she told the hearing.

The SCAI sitting in Edinburgh is examining children’s homes, no longer operating, which were run by the Catholic congregation the Sisters of Nazareth in Scotland.

The woman, who cannot be named, told the inquiry she was at the Glasgow home for around eight years in the 1970s.

She recounted how, on one occasion, she was at school when a member of staff came to tell her she had a visitor at the home, something that made her “so excited”.

She returned to the home and was taken away by a man in a car, she said.

“I was told the man that was there was my father and we were going away for the day,” she explained.

The witness told how she went to a house, where she played with one dog and was encouraged to see another dog.

“He put his arm around me,” she said of the man.

“Bearing in mind, nobody had ever put their arms around me, nobody had ever told me they loved me, it was acceptable.

“I don’t know to this day if sexual intercourse took place.

“He was on top of me and it was sore.

“I’ve never thought of being raped because it wasn’t violent, I consented and I felt loved.”

Inquiry chairwoman Lady Smith told the witness: “Do you realise you were not old enough to give any consent to anything sexual happening?

She asked the woman if she appreciated that “anything that happened between you and this man” was not her fault.

Senior counsel to the inquiry, Colin MacAulay QC, later asked the woman if the man was a stranger.

“Yes, I didn’t know him,” she replied.