Hundreds of abuse claims over children’s homes run by nuns

Police in Scotland have received more than 300 complaints of alleged abuses over a 50-year period at children’s homes run by a Catholic congregation, an inquiry has heard.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard that officers have received 308 complaints about 194 people associated with institutions run by the Sisters of Nazareth from the 1930s to 1980s.

The figure emerged as witnesses recounted a number of incidents of abuse they said they suffered at the order’s home in Aberdeen around the 1940s and 1950s.

They included claims of beatings at the hands of nuns, force-feeding to the point of vomiting, being locked in a dark cupboard as punishment and being made to bathe in water containing household disinfectant.

The inquiry has begun hearing evidence about homes run by the order in four locations – Aberdeen, Cardonald (or Glasgow), Lasswade near Edinburgh and Kilmarnock in Ayrshire – which ceased operating as homes for children in the 1980s.

A statement read on behalf of John Scott QC, representing the group In Care Abuse Survivors, said: “What is now expected by the inquiry and demanded by survivors is serious reflection, proper acknowledgement, sincere apology and meaningful accountability.”

Mark Lindsay, solicitor for the Sisters of Nazareth, earlier repeated an “unreserved” apology to anyone abused.

The inquiry continues today.