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September 28, 2000
January 7, 2001 |
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United Kingdom: Scotland
Friday
August 18, 2000
18:12 GMT
NUN 'WICKED' SAYS EX-RESIDENT
A WOMAN HAS DESCRIBED AS "WICKED" A NUN WHO DENIES CAUSING CRUELTY TO FORMER
RESIDENTS at two children's homes in Scotland.
Louise Clark was giving evidence in the trial of Marie Docherty, known as
Sister Alphonso was in charge of her group between 1976 and 1979 at the Nazareth House
home in Lasswade run by the Poor sisters of Nazareth.
She told the court she had a bed wetting problem as a child.
She said sister Alphonso would thump her with her knuckles on the side of
the head when she wet the bed and then send her to the laundry to hand wash her sheets.
She said this made her problem worse.
When asked by depute fiscal Anne Macdonald how she looked upon Sister Alphonso, Miss Clark
replied: "Wicked. I was scared of her. It was her eyes."
She went on to tell the court that once, when she had not gone to church on Sunday, the
nun had kept urging her and then dragged her upstairs by the ear.
Miss Clark recalled another occasion when she fell out with another girl and swore.
She said Sister Alphonso took both of them to the changing room. The nun kept
hitting their heads on the changing room lockers before forcing soap into their mouths.
She admitted having a previous conviction for dishonesty as well as lodging claims for
compensation regarding her time at Nazareth House.
She said she was telling the truth and was not giving evidence to make money.
Jane McGhee, who was in care at the Lasswade Nazareth House, told the
court that, on one occasion, Sister Alphonso punched her on the face for lending her
school tie to someone else.
Ms McGhee, 32, said that when her schoolteacher asked what had happened to cause the
bruising on her cheek, she told him.
When she returned to Nazareth House, however, members of staff then forced her to tell her
teacher it was a lie.
The trial was adjourned until Monday after Sister Alphonso became unwell during evidence
and had to be helped from the dock.
The trial continues.
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