Quarrier’s resident tells of vicious bath-time attack
A FORMER resident of a children’s home told how she feared her house mother was going to kill her during a bath-time assault, putting soap in her mouth and then pushing her head under water.
The woman, who stayed at Quarrier’s Village in Renfrewshire, also recalled a time she and other youngsters were made to stand on a young girl - describing this as one of her “worst memories” from the home.
She lived there in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but she told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry she did not believe her house mother was “fit” to look after children.
Quarrier’s Village, developed in the late 19th century, consisted of dozens of homes for orphans and destitute children known as cottages that were run by “house parents”.
Between 1878 and the mid 1980s, more than 30,000 youngsters stayed there.
The woman, now in her late 60s, recalled on one occasion at bath time her house mother was very angry, and had put soap in her mouth before pushing her head beneath the water. “I clearly remember thinking she was going to kill me,” she said.
She told the inquiry the attack only finished when her sister threw something towards the woman, saying: “She got a belting for that.”
She added: “I don’t recall the incident that led to it.”
The witness also told about another attack while she was queuing to leave for school.
It was heard she had been “upset” about having to go and was pulled out of the line by the house mother, before being knocked unconscious.
“She kicked me in my abdomen, I was lifted off the ground and there was a stone sink which I hit my head off. I came to and I was hysterical, I couldn’t stop screaming.”
Another incident, described as one of her “worst memories”, involved her and other children being made to stand on a young girl who was lying on the floor.
She said: “She was screaming. It’s probably one of the worst memories, it’s the guilt that we would do that.”
During the opening statements to phase three of the inquiry, Quarrier’s apologised to those who had suffered abuse while in its care.
The inquiry, chaired by Lady Smith, continues on Tuesday.