Chapter 9 — Record of abuse (female witnesses)

Arrangements for discharge

The Committee heard evidence of witnesses being physically punished for rule breaking. Examples of rule breaking were talking during ‘silent periods’, running in corridors, entering places that were out-of-bounds, fainting or coughing in church, getting out of bed at night, being in another resident’s bed, talking to boys and being thought to seek male attention and talking to town children. Examples of being punished for rule breaking included the following witness accounts: It was a cruel harsh place.... It was illegal to go out. ... Our letters were always opened and read, she ...(Mth X)... asked “who posted this letter you wrote to your mother?” She came into the dining hall where we eat our meal. ... I knew I was in deep trouble. Sr ...Y... came right up to me and told me “you posted the letters, why didn’t you own up?” I said I was afraid, she said to me “you go right up to Mth ...X...”. She was outside walking, I told her I posted the letter, she drew out and she hit me across the face several times and “now”, she said, “go down and stand up on the table in the refectory and when I go down I will deal with you”. I went down and took my shoes off and stood up on the table. She came down and told me to go up to her room. She sent ...lay care staff... to get the cane, she beat me and beat me and beat me, it went on for weeks every time she would pass, she would be walking, she beat me on the legs with a cane. Once when I felt faint I went to pass out, they said I was as white as a sheet, I heard her say “it’s not my fault I didn’t do anything to her”. ... It was Mth ...X... she was the one who would do all the beatings, after that she began to ease off on me, she got ...lay care staff... to help, if ...lay care staff... wasn’t around she did it on her own too. • Well this night she ...co-resident... was having fits and I was frightened and I got into the bed of another girl. The nun come up in the morning and found us, she made us sleep on the concrete floor, locked in the cloakroom for 3 nights for getting into the bed of another girl. We didn’t know what we had done wrong.

Rules of silence were enforced in most Schools at some part of the day. Witnesses discharged in the period up to 1970 reported in many Schools it was routine for work and most day-to-day activities to be conducted in silence, as described: The silence was terrible, we suffered in silence, hours and hours of silence, worked in silence and got a severe beating if caught talking.

Witnesses described how as children they were forced to lie in their beds in certain positions including: on their backs with their arms crossed over their chests, on their right side, arms crossed and facing the chapel or with their arms crossed on top of the bedclothes. Inspections were carried out and children woken and, in some instances, physically punished if found not lying correctly. You had to sleep with hands out like this ...(demonstrating position)... and your fingers touching you shoulders it was like that and it was very uncomfortable, if you moved you got a beating.

Witnesses reported that they were punished for answering back, being assertive, defending others or attempting to intervene on their behalf in the course of a beating. These behaviours were described as frowned upon and heavily sanctioned.

Refusing to eat was another reported precursor to punishment as it was generally expected that all food would be eaten. Witnesses described nausea, distaste and illness as reasons for refusing to eat. Forty one (41) witnesses reported being forced to eat, frequently by having their heads held and mouths prised open. Seven (7) witnesses reported being beaten for refusing to eat and eight others reported being physically forced to eat regurgitated food. I remember sitting at the table and, excuse me now, but being forced to eat my own vomit because you were not allowed leave the table until you eat, if you didn’t eat it I would get a slap for retching. Sr ...X... hit on the head. They used to hit with the ring they had on their finger or with the knuckles on the head or with a steel comb. The food would be there the next day and it would be left there until you eat it, you would be days without eating and there would be mould on it, so you would have to eat it.

Taking food from the kitchen, pantry, fields, gardens, scrap buckets and animal houses was regarded as rule breaking and punished accordingly. Twenty two (22) witnesses reported being beaten for ‘stealing’ food. All reported that they took the food because they were hungry or in some instances because it was irresistibly appetising as in the case of scraps from the convent kitchen or the priests’ breakfast tray. I was hungry, I took an apple. ... I took it off the ground, one of the nuns caught me ... and she gave me a slap on the face ... and she said “when you come in I want to see you”. I was kind of afraid, I was kinda confused. I said to myself “will I get over the railings or what will I do?” ... Anyway they called me out and 6 nuns held me and they cut my hair ...crying.... I just can’t believe that some people would do that to me. I don’t know why they done that, if I had done something, I don’t know why they done it, I did nothing wrong, I was hungry.

Twenty one (21) witnesses reported running away for reasons including physical and sexual abuse. Eleven (11) witnesses who ran away reported being severely beaten when they were returned to the School. Nine (9) of these witnesses were returned by the Gardaí and described often being greeted warmly on their return and later beaten by one or more Sisters when the Gardaí had left. Five (5) witnesses reported being beaten in a small room separate from the other girls.

Witnesses consistently reported that residents who absconded were severely beaten in a small number of Schools either naked or partially clothed when they were returned. The public nature and severity of the beatings were described as traumatic, serving as a caution against absconding and leaving a lasting impression on those who witnessed them. The police took us back, it was the second time I ran away. I was stripped to my knickers, Sr ...X... was supposed to hold me and she started beating me as well as Sr ...Y.... I was 13 years, I was beaten in the rec in front of everybody, it did not happen in that way again.

Other punishments for absconding reported by witnesses included three witness accounts of being locked in small rooms and given bread and water or cocoa for several days after running away. Other witnesses described seeing co-residents following such beatings with their heads shaved, bruised and marked. A number of witnesses reported having their hair cut or head shaved as a punishment for running away. They cut my hair ... they had this big thing, a blade, you know like an old man shaving, one of the nuns just had this thing on my head like a man for shaving himself. • I suppose we were about 9 or thereabouts, 3 girls from the orphanage got out, they ran away and got about 12 miles.... They were caught by the Gardaí and brought back. Not that night but maybe the next night, we were all brought to this inner parlour. ... There was tiered seating in each parlour ... we had to sit and watch. They ...(Sr X and Sr Y)... were there, and Sr ...Z... was brought over from the convent, this was all planned, she was to beat these girls who ran away. Sr ...Z... she was really, really cruel we were terrified of her, Sr ...X... and Sr ...Y ... and she took out the leg of a chair, it was the leg of a chair, that’s as true as I’m sitting here sitting looking at your face, she took it out from under her garb, and she lashed into these girls and we were all terrified. We were spectators, an exhibition was made out of them and she beat those girls into pulp for running away. She took the leg of a chair back to the convent with her because they did not want us to see it. That has stayed with me, to this day I have nightmares about it.

Specific practices used in physical abuse

Witnesses reported that staff at times employed severe practices that increased the traumatic impact of the physical abuse to which they were subjected. The most frequently reported such practices were ‘thrashing’, delayed punishment, being beaten by more than one person and in front of others.

Reports were heard of witnesses being severely beaten, the reason for which was not always clear to them. A number reported being severely beaten following disclosures of abuse, running away, and rule breaking. Other beatings were reported to be unpredictable and generally attributed to a small number of the named religious and lay staff. The most severe forms of such beatings were attributed to nine nuns. These beatings were generally referred to as ‘thrashings’, ‘whippings’ or ‘floggings’ and were described as physical assaults that were often administered in front of others.

The Committee heard 69 witness accounts of beatings by more than one person in relation to a small number of Schools, including nine that referred to witnesses more recently discharged in the 1970s. Such beatings were by two or more staff beating the witness simultaneously or one beating the witness while others, including co-residents, held them down. The role of the second person was either to hold the child being beaten or to participate in the beating. The public nature of these beatings was described by witnesses as a further component of the abuse that had a lasting traumatic effect. Twenty eight (28) witnesses reported being stripped of all their clothing to be beaten and another 41 witnesses reported being beaten partially naked either privately or in front of co-residents in areas including the dormitories, refectories or classrooms. Witnesses also reported being restrained to be beaten; for example, seven witnesses reported that their wrists were tied to the frame of the bed that they were lain across, either naked or with their nightdress pulled up.

Others described being made to bend over chairs or other furniture to be beaten on their bare bottom, backs of their legs and backs. Attempts to escape from the beating resulted in being beaten more severely. Witnesses reported that severe beatings at times caused injury, drew blood and generally left the witness marked with bruises, welts or red marks. One witness described her bottom looking ‘like a plaid skirt’ after a beating. She ... (Sr X)... brought me upstairs, she’d throw you on the first bed inside the dormitory door, she put me across the bed naked, it was always naked, herself and Sr ...Y... and tied me to the bed with a sort of a tweedy rope. She had this thing of tying you to the bed, an iron bed, you know, and you couldn’t move then... She would beat you with the leather strap and count to 100 as she was beating. Then she’d say “get up and go down and do your homework”. I know I was beaten often with a strap but I was beaten like that 5 or 6 times. If you cried you got worse so I learned not to cry. • She ...(Sr X)... literally took off your underwear and got one of the bigger girls to hold your hands and another held your legs and literally walloped you until you were bleeding and you were hot and sticky and you went to bed and slept that off if you could. ... (It would)... leave bumps on you. • If you did something bad during the day you would be laid across the table in the refectory, you would be beaten on the behind with the cane and anywhere else if you used your elbow to protect yourself. I was sent to the middle of the room, with all the children standing around so they could see. The other girls would be in the refectory, you would be beaten on the behind, your skirt lifted up. She ...(Sr X)... would have them there watching you, some of them would be crying, they would be scared. • After school I was told to go and wait at the top of the stairs, to a small room where Sr ...X... and Sr ...Y... would make you kneel with your knickers down. They would beat you on the bare backside with a stick, sometimes you would have to hold each other down. If you were on your own they would hold you by the hair ... 6 severe whacks with a stick, if you jumped around you would get more.

The Committee heard evidence from 31 witnesses of what they believed was a loss of control by staff to the point where other residents or staff intervened to protect a resident. They described the person beating them as ‘in a lather of sweat’ and ‘out of control’. In relation to the most severe beatings witnesses described nuns being very angry and being in a rage. A small number of witnesses described being beaten to the point that they feared for their own lives and/or thought that the person beating them would collapse or suffer a heart attack. I remember her putting that cane in water and then whacking us, the cane had a crook and she would catch us around the neck. Mth ...X... she would loose control her eyes would roll, she would really flip, she would be in a sweat, her face would be so red.

Witnesses from a small number of Schools stated that at times the more severe beatings were administered in a deliberate and planned manner. They described being made to wait, sometimes overnight for beatings by the Resident Manager or other religious staff. In a number of Schools it was reported that the Resident Manager publicly called out the names of residents who were to be beaten, at a later time, by another Sister. They reported that being sent to wait in a particular place generally indicated a more severe beating. Witnesses variously reported being ‘sent to the office’, to ‘wait by your bed’, ‘stand on the landing’, ‘stand in the refectory’ and ‘wait outside the chapel’. Fifteen (15) witnesses reported being left waiting for lengthy periods of time, sometimes in the dark, naked or in their nightdress, to be physically punished. Others described waiting with co-residents for their turn to be beaten. Some witnesses described the waiting as often worse than the beating. She ... Sr ...X... would hit you with a cane in public, but she would hit you in private too. She would make me go to the dormitory and wait by my bed, I knew then it was going to be a bad one. ... I’d have to get into my nightdress, and wait and when Sr ...X... would arrive I’d have to take it off. She’d beat on the bare bottom, she’d work up such a sweat I thought she was going to get a heart attack. She’d ... be breathless, no matter how you yelled you were sorry, you weren’t sorry enough I guess. • She ...(Sr X)... had cuffs in her pocket, she’d take the cuffs out, we used make them, things you know you would put them up over your sleeves to protect whatever they had. She pulled the skirt up, they had a big wide skirt you know, and she’d pin the veil back over her shoulder like hair. She was getting herself ready, and she took her time doing it eyeballing me all the time, then she’d take out the strap, all rolled up in her pocket she carried it with her all the time on her, the keys were on a strap, she’d hit you with them, big huge keys too.