‘I was beaten with a cricket bat by teacher at top school’
A FORMER pupil has spoken about being beaten with a cricket bat by a member of staff at a Scottish boarding school.
He also told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) yesterday how he was removed from the school with ‘no explanation’ after a fellow pupil allegedly stabbed him in the thigh.
The witness, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the beat‘It ing happened when he was aged around ten and attended Queen Victoria School in Dunblane, Perthshire, in the 1960s.
The boarding school is being investigated as part of the SCAI being heard before judge Lady Smith. The latest stage of the inquiry is focusing on alleged abuse carried out in boarding schools.
In a statement read out at the inquiry, the witness, going by the pseudonym Andrew, spoke about how he was hit with the cricket bat by a teacher in front of his peers as a punishment during a gym class. was extremely painful and humiliating,’ his statement read. ‘It left an impression of a cricket bat on my body.’
Andrew’s statement also spoke about how he was removed from the school after a friend allegedly stabbed him in the thigh with a penknife following an argument.
He said he was still searching for answers as to why he was made to leave and questioned why the attack was not investigated.
He said being removed from Queen Victoria early had an impact on his ambition of joining the Armed Forces.
Andrew added: ‘More support for children going to boarding school is needed.
‘If there was someone for me to talk to when I got stabbed I would have been able to complete my studies.’
The statement of another former pupil, using the pseudonym Bob, told the inquiry how the school carried out ‘public expulsions’ in front of parents, staff and pupils.
He said: ‘Children would be brought up to a stage. They would get four to six strokes of the cane across the buttocks and everyone would be told why they were being expelled. It must have been terrible for the parents involved.’
The inquiry, in Edinburgh, continues.