Religious order accused of playing ‘pass the paedophile’
A religious order has been accused of playing “pass the paedophile” by a former boarding school pupil.
The witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was giving evidence to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry about his time at Fort Augustus Abbey School in the Highlands during the 1960s.
He spoke of one priest grooming him and his mother, and said he was “convinced” the monk was one of the “worst abusers”, although the witness was never sexually assaulted by him.
The inquiry was established in October 2015 to fully explore cases of abuse of children in care in Scotland.
It heard that he believed the priest was constantly being relocated by the Order of Benedictines, who ran the school, as a means of covering up alleged sexual crimes.
The witness, now in his 70s, said: “He was being moved around like a game of chess.
“I think it’s called ‘pass the paedophile’.”
He added: “He would take boys on holidays, on trips to the islands.
“I don’t know for a fact, but I’m convinced he abused there.”
Meanwhile, another witness spoke of a priest being a “sadist”, who took pleasure in beating young boys with a bamboo stick at Carlekemp Priory School in East Lothian.
The man, who also cannot be named, claimed the cane was a “speciality” of monk Aidan Duggan.
The inquiry was told that the witness, also now in his 70s, attended the establishment in the 1950s and 1960s.
He said: “He (Duggan) was a sadist, for sure.
“He would swing at you with this cane, a lot of us were struck from the lower back to the buttocks to the top of the thighs.
“He drew out this cane and looked at us and we were shaking in our wellies.
“This was his speciality. He was a great man for the beatings.”
These attacks were said to be inflicted when boys answered questions wrongly, with the strikes leaving stripe marks across their bodies.
The inquiry has heard testimony from dozens of former looked after children and school pupils over the last three years.
Earlier this week, the inquiry heard how another victim of abuse was moved to Fort Augustus from a boarding school in East Lothian.
He described regimes of physical and emotional suffering at the institution, which he said was ”ruled by hate and fear”.
The witness, now in his 70s, was at the order’s Carlekemp boarding school in North Berwick, East Lothian, between the ages of nine and 13.
He was later moved to the Highlands school where he stayed until he was 18.
The inquiry in Edinburgh before judge Lady Smith continues.