Monk beat boy, 12, at abbey where children were branded ‘scum’
A MONK at a school where children were branded ‘scum’ groomed a 12year-old boy – and was then moved to Australia.
David Walls, 73, said Father Aidan Duggan molested youngsters at Carlekemp school in North Berwick, East Lothian.
He told an inquiry Duggan groomed him by initially holding him up to public ridicule at the boarding school, then becoming physically affectionate and caring towards him.
Mr Walls wept as he recalled being on a bed during recorder practice with Duggan, but he said his memory had blanked out what followed. Duggan, who died in 2004, was later moved to Australia, which Mr Walls said was highly unusual, as normally monks do not leave their monasteries.
Carlekemp was a feeder school for Fort Augustus Abbey School in Inverness-shire, run by Catholic order the Benedictines.
Yesterday, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) heard the order had compensated ten survivors for acts of abuse.
The inquiry also heard children in the Benedictines’ care were ruled by ‘hate and fear’.
Mr Walls said in one incident a child was ‘mercilessly beaten’.
Duggan would read the children sections of Dracula, and Mr Walls said he believed some children were fondled as the monk read aloud. Initially, the monk mocked Mr Walls in front of his class, but later cuddled him inappropriately during Mass and on another occasions.
Mr Walls said: ‘I remember very vividly sitting on his bed; he was standing to my left. My vague memory is that he sat down beside me.
‘I remember nothing more than coming along the corridor away from his room. There’s something about what happened I just can’t explain.’
At that moment of giving evidence, the witness broke down in tears.
He added: ‘I have no idea what happened, but you can see that it had an effect on me.’
Mr Walls said it would be ‘naïve to suggest he was not grooming me’.
Another witness, using the name Harry, also 73, said pupils were ruled by ‘hate and fear’ – and regarded as ‘scum of the earth’.
Harry, who was at Carlekemp between the ages of nine and 13, said: ‘I remember being beaten up. When I reflect upon it, [the priest] really did lay into me.
‘Slapping and punching – I was only a little boy. It was quite an uncontrolled attack. It was a flurry of blows. I think there must have been some punches as well.’
The witness later moved to Fort Augustus and the inquiry heard the boarding school had an ‘extremely authoritarian’ ethos.
Harry described beatings that would leave boys ‘black and blue’ and suggested children were made to take their pyjama bottoms off for punishments as priests ‘enjoyed’ it.
The inquiry heard the minimum punishment was 12 strokes of a leather strap on the hands, while the maximum would be ten hits with a birch branch on the backside.
These beatings were said to have been dealt out daily by monks. The witness said: ‘The school was really ruled by hate and fear.’
Paul Reid, representing the English Benedictine Congregation, used yesterday’s hearing as an opportunity to apologise to those who had suffered harm while in its care.
The order also announced there had been ten settlements reached in relation to alleged abuse, as of June, with three still to be dealt with.
The inquiry before judge Lady Smith continues.