Nuns to face verdict over child abuse within weeks

A HIGH Court judge probing claims of abuse at an orphanage will publish her findings within weeks after hearing a catalogue of horrific allegations.

Lady Smith said she would decide whether they were substantiated on the ‘balance of probabilities’.

This a lower threshold than the stipulation for a charge being proven beyond ‘reasonable doubt’ in criminal courts.

The report on Smyllum Park in Lanark is likely to be published by the start of the next phase of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI), in late April.

It emerged at an inquiry hearing in Edinburgh this week that nuns accused of abuse at the home could face prosecution.

Gregor Rolfe, who represented the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, which ran Smyllum, neither denied or admitted the allegations of abuse.

Alan Draper, of In Care Abuse Survivors (INCAS), said: ‘The judgment is likely to be groundbreaking for survivors and will set the tone not just for this phase of the inquiry but all aspects of its investigation into the horrors of the past.’

Simon Collins, solicitor advocate for INCAS, said: ‘We are disappointed at the approach that was taken by the Daughters of Charity in their closing submissions.

‘For many survivors, the fact that the order made no reference at all to abuse meant the apology that was offered was simply hollow words.’

In a statement, Lady Smith said: ‘I have decided that, when determining what facts have been established in the course of this inquiry, it is appropriate that I do so by reference to the civil standard of proof, namely balance of probabilities.

‘I will not, however, consider myself constrained from making findings about, for example, what may possibly have happened or about the strength of particular evidence, where I consider it would be helpful to do so.’

The judge said that the ‘high criminal standard of proof seems neither necessary nor appropriate’.

Last week, the nun in charge of the Daughters of Charity offered its ‘deepest and most sincere apologies’ to anyone abused at Smyllum.

Sister Ellen Flynn said the claims of abuse were ‘totally against’ everything the order stands for and vowed to ‘put right what wrongs are found’.

Last June, she had claimed the allegations were a ‘mystery’ but said abuse at Smyllum was ‘always a possibility’.

The inquiry heard weeks of evidence about the institution, which closed in 1981. Dozens of former residents claim to have suffered beatings and mistreatment while children there.

This week the inquiry heard that a cold case team is gathering evidence on allegations against staff at Smyllum.

Former residents of the home have also told the SCAI how nuns beat them, forced them to eat vomit and ritually humiliated them for bed-wetting.

One recalled Satanic abuse and another claimed a fellow child may have died after being left naked in the rain for three hours as punishment.

When the inquiry resumes, it will examine allegations of abuse at homes run by another order, the Sisters of Nazareth.