Chapter 9 — Record of abuse (female witnesses)

Arrangements for discharge

The forms of physical abuse reported by witnesses ranged from being smacked on the hand to being beaten naked in front of others. They described being hit, slapped, beaten, kicked, pushed, pinched, burned, bitten, shaken violently, physically restrained, and force fed. The Committee also heard reports of witnesses having their heads knocked against walls, desks and window ledges, being beaten on the soles of their feet, the backs of their hands, around their heads and ears, having their hair pulled, being swung off the ground by their hair, and made to perform tasks that they stated put them at risk of harm and danger. The locations where physical abuse was most frequently reported to have occurred included dormitories, refectories, landings, corridors, classrooms, churches, offices, kitchens, work areas and recreation halls. (We were)... beaten everywhere, bang your head off the wall, pinch your cheeks, beat you with a cane.... She ...(Sr X)... would grab you and hit you. • I remember once I got a big yellow blister on my hand, it was really painful.... Normally when you got a beating from someone you had to hold your hand out for a slap like that ... (demonstrated outstretched palm)... not always of course, some of them would hit you anywhere on the legs or anywhere. ... She ... (Sr X)... said “Why are you holding your hand out like that? Give me the other hand”....You have to have 10 on that hand and 10 on the other. I couldn’t part with this hand, it was yellow and throbbing it was, and she forced it open and slapped it. The blister burst, I’ll never forget the pain.

Further forms of physical abuse described by witnesses involved being made to kneel for hours on hard surfaces, both indoors and in outside yards, being locked in confined and dark areas such as coal houses, furnace rooms, animal sheds, broom cupboards and fridges, made to stand for lengthy periods and being doused and immersed in cold water.

The physical abuse described by the majority of witnesses included both detailed accounts of particular beatings and more generalised accounts of the daily experience of being hit and otherwise physically abused or witnessing others being abused.

The most commonly reported implement used to physically abuse a resident was some type of a wooden stick. One hundred and sixty six (166) female witnesses reported being hit or beaten with wooden sticks, blackthorn sticks, rulers, pointers, window poles, wooden spoons and other kitchen implements, chair legs, wooden crutches, hurley sticks, cricket bats, coat hangers, towel rollers and sally rods. A further 77 witness reports were heard of being hit or beaten with bamboo canes. ‘They would hit you anywhere, the nuns, with a wooden spoon, a silver spoon or a cane. I remember I had the stripe of the cane on my leg, the mark.’ I remember getting the spoon, the wooden spoon. Sr ...X... was running after me and I was running from her, you would be all stinging and raw where she hit you. You would be sore.

Ninety nine (99) witness accounts were heard of being beaten with leather straps, including cinctures, some ‘with strings attached to them’ and thin straps on occasion referred to as whips. In addition there were a further eight accounts of witnesses being hit with large Rosary beads and crucifixes that nuns wore at their waist.

There were 37 witness reports of being beaten with brushes of various kinds, including hand brushes, sweeping brushes, hairbrushes and yard brushes. Once she ... (named lay care staff)... came into the dormitory and another girl and I were talking, she went and got a wooden hairbrush and she came and pulled down my pyjamas and she whacked me on the bottom. She whacked me so hard it was impossible to sleep afterwards, and the next day it was still sore.

Having objects such as a wooden statue, metal tray and knives thrown at them was reported as a physical abuse by a small number of witnesses.

In addition to being hit, witnesses reported that, at times they were burned, had water thrown over them or were held under water, as described: Nineteen (19) witnesses reported being put into cold or scalding baths or showers. Twelve (12) witnesses reported having water thrown over them, five of whom were scalded with hot tea or water. Eight (8) witnesses reported having their heads held under water, including two whose heads were held under a cold running tap. Five (5) witnesses reported being burned with hot pokers or by having their hands held to a fire or on a hot stove. Two (2) witnesses reported having their fingers held to electric sockets. One of the girls she was very sick. I let her come into my bed one morning, she was very, very ill. They brought me down to the shoe room, they stripped me off, they threw cold water over me ... (prior to severe beating).... It was the shoe room you know where all the shoes were, even now if I get the smell of shoe polish, the feeling of enclosement, it was awful.

Six (6) witnesses gave accounts of nettles being used by nuns when punishing residents. They described being pushed into patches of nettles, hit on the legs with them, and, in one instance, their bed being full of nettles. ‘Sr ...X... put nettles in the bed of the girls who wet the bed.’ Other witnesses described being pinched with pliers, jabbed with a knitting needle, hit with shoes, a shovel, wet dishcloths, bunches of keys, serving spoons, scissors, electric cord and the treadle belt from a sewing machine.

Witnesses described being beaten and otherwise physically abused for many reasons and for no reason at all, which created an environment of pervasive fear. They described physical abuse in the context of being punished for some misdemeanour, real or perceived, or simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. ‘No reason was needed, I was hit because I could be hit.’ Witnesses who had little or no family contact, those who were described as orphans, were reported to be most vulnerable to harsh physical discipline.

The most commonly reported circumstances that precipitated beatings were: bed-wetting, rule breaking, ‘stealing’ food, perceived failure at work or educational tasks, soiled or torn clothing, disclosing abuse to others, talking, untidiness, answering back, running away, left-handedness, indiscipline, being cheeky, talking to boys, appearing to engage male attention, having fun and refusing to eat. Other behaviours for which witnesses reported being physically abused included: perceived misbehaviour of younger siblings, babies in their care crying, being sick, linking arms with another resident and not getting up in the morning when called. As one witness said: ‘I suppose I was bold, but how bold can a child of 9 be?’.

There were consistent reports from witnesses of particularly harsh and humiliating methods of physical punishment and abuse for certain behaviours, for example bed-wetting, running away, school work and not meeting the required standard for hygiene and personal care. Bed-wetting and soiling

One hundred and seven (107) witnesses (28%) reported being beaten and otherwise physically punished for bed-wetting during their time in Schools. The Committee also heard a small number of accounts of physical abuse for soiling. There were accounts heard of severe abuse for bed-wetting and soiling by witnesses discharged in all decades up to and including the 1980s. It was reported as routine for residents to have their beds inspected in the morning and those with wet sheets were punished. Witnesses reported being beaten for bed-wetting in the morning and/or in some Schools again at night, either on the hands or bare buttocks, with a cane, strap or wooden brush. Witnesses described the usual procedure for managing wet bedclothes was to take the wet sheets from the bed and either carry them to the laundry or to a drying room. Twenty three (23) witnesses reported standing with their wet sheet on their head or shoulder outside the Sister’s office, often that of the Resident Manager, waiting to be beaten. Twenty seven (27) witnesses also reported being made to wear their wet sheets during breakfast, to the classroom or while saying the Rosary. If you wet the bed, Sr ...X... made you stand out at the bed with the sheet over your head, if you fell asleep she would come out with the stick. She hit you on the back and then you would be so sore you couldn’t sleep. • You’d be hammered, I used to get killed for it ...(soiling the bed).... Sr ...X... with a cane she used to call me into a small room, she’d be pacing up and down, she would lay into me. • Every night you ...(bed-wetters)... would have to stand at the end of your bed, holding on to the bed, she ...(lay care staff)... would tell you to face straight ahead, in your nightdress, she would hit you with a steel coat hanger, other staff would hold up the nightdress. If you got into bed and cried you would have to get out and the same would happen again. • I started wetting the bed. I don’t remember wetting the bed before I was about 6 or 7. There were about 30 of us in the dormitory, only a handful of us wet the bed. We had to stay with the younger ones until we stopped wetting the bed and in my case that was about 10 or 11.... We had long brown mackintoshes ... (rubber sheets)... under our sheets, I remember pulling the sheets off so you wouldn’t wet the sheet, if you wet the mackintosh maybe nobody would notice. We had to bring our wet sheets to the girl in charge who would swipe you across the face with it and bring you in to the dressing room for a flogging. I remember trying so hard not to wet the bed.... I remember sitting on the toilet and falling asleep, going back to bed and still waking up soaking wet.

Witnesses described the distress they experienced observing their younger siblings being physically punished for bed-wetting. Many described protecting them from beatings by any means, including pretending that they had wet the beds themselves and taking the punishment instead of their siblings. They also described hiding wet sheets and trying to dry sheets in advance of an inspection. In some instances witnesses reported swapping their sibling’s wet sheet with that of another resident who was then punished instead. The girls who wet the bed got beaten. I never wet the bed but my sister did and my older sister and I used to get up early and make sure her bed was dry so that she didn’t get hit, the babies who wet the bed got beaten. We would change her bed. I know it’s a horrible thing but we would change the bed with someone else, so that she did not get hit and if we didn’t get time we’d change her with our own bed and we’d take the beating. We just didn’t want her to get hit, she was only a baby. The punishment was, beaten with a leather strap all over. The nun used to get a big girl to go around and check what one was wet, what one was dry. You couldn’t save everyone you know.

Other methods of punishment described for bed-wetting in a small number of Schools were being locked in a cupboard, put into cold baths, beaten with nettles, and put into clothes dryers and other confined spaces. Six (6) witnesses from one School reported being made to spend the night outside in the pig sty or locked under the stairs as punishment for bed-wetting.