‘Child raped by priest with nun’s help’ at Catholic orphanage, inquiry told

A former resident at a Catholic-run orphanage has told an inquiry she was raped by a priest and repeatedly abused by a nun.

Helen Holland, who has waived her right to anonymity, described years of “sadistic” treatment at the Nazareth House home in Kilmarnock while resident there in the 1960s and 1970s.

Speaking at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry yesterday, the 59-year-old told how the sexual abuse began when she was eight years old.

She said a nun at the home had told her the “the devil was inside” of her.

She said: “She took me into her cell and told me to take my clothes off.”

Ms Holland said she was then assaulted with a “hand brush”.

Ms Holland said she told a priest in confession what had happened and that she “had to get the devil out”.

The inquiry heard he then “marched” her back to the orphanage, describing her as the “most wicked child he had ever met”.

She said the nun joined them and they went into a room.

Ms Holland said: “He told her what I’d said. They looked at each other, the way people do when they have got an understanding but without language.

“I ended up with [the priest] raping me.”

The inquiry continues.