Teacher gives evidence in Fife sex abuse trial

St ninian’s school: Witness tells High Court she saw no signs of any abuse

A teacher who worked at a Christian Brothers school where pupils were allegedly sexually and physically assaulted told a court she never saw any sign of abuse.

Margaret Nicol, 67, who taught parttime at St Ninian’s School at Falkland, Fife, from 1976 to 1981, told the High Court in Glasgow that she never saw anything untoward.

She was asked by prosecutor Kath Harper: “What would you have done if you had seen any evidence of the pupils being physically or sexually abused?”

She replied: “I would have gone to their social workers, but at no stage did I see anything that caused me concern.”

The jury was told that St Ninian’s was a List G boarding school which took boys from Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire, Dundee and Edinburgh.

Mrs Nicol said: “The school was for children who had been taken into care, but not through the court system.

“Most of them came from difficult backgrounds.”

The court was told that the school was run by the Christian Brothers and there were a number of lay people including teachers and domestic staff.

Mrs Nicol was asked by Ms Harper: “Who looked after the boys at night?” and replied: “I know the Brothers were there at night, but none of the other staff were.”

John Farrell, 73, Paul Kelly, 63, Edward Egan, 78, Michael Murphy, 76, and William Don, 61, are accused of sexually and physically abusing pupils in their care at a school between 1967 and 1983.

They are alleged to have physically and sexually abused boys who were aged between 11 and 16, at the former St Ninian’s School in Falkland.

They deny all the charges against them.

The court indictment lists 121 charges involving sexual abuse and physical abuse and dozens of witnesses are expected to give evidence.

The majority of the allegations are against Farrell and Kelly.

The Crown claim that a total of 35 youngsters were allegedly abused at the boys’ school.

Among other claims is an accusation that Kelly left a young boy rolled up in a rug overnight.

He is also said to have stripped another pupil and hung him upside down from a bridge.

Farrell is accused among other charges of indecently assaulting a 12-year-old boy by simulating sex with him and forcing a pair of underpants into his mouth to prevent him from screaming.

He also faces a charge that in the early 1980s he indecently assaulted a boy at a monastery on the isle of Iona.

He is further said to have attacked the same boy at a Catholic church in Motherwell in 1999.

Mrs Nicol told the court that when she started work at the school Father Ryan was the head teacher, but he moved to Liberia and in January 1981 Farrell became the head teacher.

Under cross-examination by Edward Targowski QC, representing Farrell, Mrs Nicole agreed that a number of pupils at the school were receiving treatment from psychiatrists and psychologists.

Mr Targowski asked: “What was the ethos of the school?”

Mrs Nicole replied: “The boys were cared for, they were settled and they had committed people looking after them.”

The trial before judge Lord Matthews continues.

Dozens of witnesses are expected to give evidence against five Christian Brothers who ran the boarding school in Falkland.