2,143 entries for Witness Testimony

There were 16 reports from witnesses of injury in one particular School, including three accounts of being unable to walk following a severe beating and four accounts of head injury. One witness reported being unconscious following a beating by two Sisters and then being hidden from the visiting doctor. Another witness reported the following experience of being severely beaten in the same School: Sr ...X... she took me by the top of the uniform and pulled me into the kitchen she gave me 16 of the best across the knuckles with the pantry roller.... At first I couldn’t feel the pain because I was after being in such pain with the chilblains. Then she said “16 on the back”.... She didn’t get to finish the 16 on my legs the sweat was running off her so much. It was only when I went to move I collapsed, I couldn’t move with the pain, my knees were twisted.... She called in 3 girls to help me up to my bed and there I stayed for almost 3 months. I couldn’t move with the pain in my hands and my legs and I never even got a tablet. She told me not to open my mouth or if I did I’d get worse. I was warned to keep it to myself, I had an accident that was it.

Among the 241 religious Sisters reported as abusive, 54 were identified as authority figures or the Resident Managers in charge of the Schools and 130 were described as care staff. In addition, 42 Sisters were described as teachers and 15 as ancillary workers occupied in the kitchens, laundries, sewing rooms and on the farms. The four members of the clergy identified as physically abusive were reported to have pastoral and other roles within the Schools and were described by witnesses as physically abusing them in different circumstances. A witness who was constantly punished for bed-wetting reported that she prayed and asked for guidance to stop bed-wetting. She reported the following consequences: I went to one nun and said “I had this dream that I saw God coming off the cross and he won’t let me wet the bed anymore”. I got a belt with her hand across the face. So she marched me down to the priest, made me go to Confession, I was to denounce the devil and all my sins. ... When I went in to make Confession I knew something was going to happen. I said “I saw God and he said I wasn’t going to wet the bed anymore”. I was made make a Confession, it was the same priest as said Mass every day. He brought me into the ...room... and he said “denounce the devil or you will go to hell”. ... I said “but Father, I did see God and he said he won’t let me wet the bed anymore”. He made me bend over on a chair it was like a bishop’s chair, and he lashed me. He made me take down my underwear. ... Next day I told them that it was a dream, I had told her it was a dream.

Ten (10) of the named lay care and ancillary workers were described by witnesses as former residents who it was believed were reared in the Schools and had spent their lives in the institution. Many witnesses expressed sympathy and understanding for that group of staff, who were employed in both care and ancillary roles within the Schools. Nine (9) female lay staff, including some former residents, were the focus of 70 witness reports and were recalled as extremely harsh in their dealings with witnesses and other residents. ‘She was a lay worker Miss ...X (lay care staff)... used to hit us with the big keys, she was kind of a supervisor. I thought I was never going to get out alive.’ When you got older you were allocated the task of looking after her ...(named lay care staff).... You would have to go into her room and tuck her into bed and then you would sometimes have to sleep in her room in the other single bed and you would be terrified that your breathing would waken her. You’d have to dust her room, mind her make up, and bring her tea in bed if she ever took a day off. I used to live out my life wondering how will I escape a beating, how will I escape being sent to bed without anything to eat? It could be a random outburst, somebody getting a beating for raising your eyes, for getting your hat wet.

Witnesses reported that in a small number of Schools there was pervasive bullying and in many instances it was stated that bullying occurred with the knowledge and awareness of staff. Fifty three (53) witnesses reported being beaten or otherwise physically abused by co-residents, 23 of whom were identified by name. There were another 30 reports heard by the Committee of physical abuse by older co-residents who were not identified by name. Two girls ...(co-residents)... hit me with a broom and cut my eye, I’ve got scars to prove it.... I thought they were going to kill me. I went to the hospital, I remember the doctor, Dr ...X.... He asked me what had happened but I was too scared to tell him in case I’d get beaten again, I told him I fell because you’d be scared. I had stitches ...(displayed mark to Commissioners).... No one ever said anything about it, the nuns were never there.... I mean I was covered in blood and my sister asked me what happened, my sister took me to the hospital. • An older girl ...(named co-resident)... she made my life hell ...crying.... She got the sweeping brush one day, she brought me up to where the turf was and she said “I am going to beat you until you tell me you are afraid of me”. Oh, she used beat me so much. She’d say “you get me bacon, eggs and sausage” and she knew well I could never get that ...crying.... I used get into the little hole, you know where the chickens get in, at least I would have eggs for her ...crying.... I was so afraid, she was cruel.

Witnesses also reported being physically abused by individuals who were neither staff nor co-residents while in holiday or weekend placements. It was a commonly reported practice in a number of Schools that the Resident Manager or those in charge made arrangements for some residents to spend holidays with or work for local families. The Committee heard three accounts of witnesses who were hit or beaten when on weekend or holiday leave with such families. The families we were sent out to, the first one, her husband was a nice man. One time she was hitting me and her husband said “you can’t be doing that”. ... I remember my time there being very, very unhappy, every time I was due to go I would always be sick. From the time we would arrive there she would talk to Sr ...X.... When she ...(Sr X)... would be gone she ...(the ‘foster’/‘holiday’ mother)... would hide my sister and tell me she was gone, I was 6 or 7, even younger than that. I used to feel sick and start getting sick, then she would let my sister out and she would tell me it was only a joke. One time I got sick and left a bit of vomit on my hair, she clattered ...(hit)... me for that.

Thirty five (35) witnesses from 16 Schools reported the practice of being stripped naked to be beaten as sexually abusive and stated that this happened most often in view of others but occasionally in private. Two (2) witnesses reported being observed by a workman and a priest in the course of naked beatings. She ...(Sr X)... would lay you across the bed and give you unmerciful beatings. I remember one day she had hit me on this side so much that I had to move and turn around, there was this priest there, and I looked around, and he was smiling.

Fifty three (53) witnesses described how abusers forcibly coerced them to comply with and remain silent about sexual abuse by means of verbal threats and actual violence. In the most extreme instances witnesses reported that their lives and the lives of their siblings were threatened. One witness described being taken down to the furnace room when she was a young child by a workman and told he would put her in the fire if she told anyone their ‘secret’. A witness who reported being raped, by a named lay ancillary worker, on a number of occasions was silenced by threats: He ...X... got us back to his house, said he had a sandwich for us. After that he used to follow me around the place, the nuns would have to be blind not to see this. He threatened to burn down the School and threatened to kill my sisters, so you went to bed at night petrified, thinking he was going to break in and burn down the School. You were just petrified, so if I didn’t go to his house, this is what he would do, burn down the School and kill my sisters. He ...(witness described anal rape)... several time over years ...crying.... It stays with you, it sticks in my mind, and the threat to burn down the School.

Another witness reported that she was frequently sexually abused by a visiting external child welfare professional who threatened that her sibling would be placed for adoption if she told anyone about his abuse of her. The Committee heard evidence from three witnesses of sexual abuse by this man. Mr ...X... he sexually abused me, we used to have to go and see him, we had a sick room for children who were sick, we used to have to go in there ...crying.... He used make, you know, make me ...crying... take off all my clothes and used to make me lie on the floor ...crying.... It started happening, um, it seemed quite a long time after my First Holy Communion and then it stopped then when I got my period. He was always on his own. I think Mth ...Y... was probably somewhere around. ... He probably used to come and go as he pleased, he used bring me chocolates. He used to say “this will be our little secret, if you do tell anyone we will send ...witness’s sibling... for adoption”. I was frightened to death, I never ever said anything. It happened more than once.

Thirty seven (37) witnesses reported being sexually abused by men in families where they were placed for holiday or to work. Many reported that the fear of being returned to the Industrial School, sent to a Reformatory School or transferred to a laundry or psychiatric hospital was the most common experience. Many witnesses reported that it was generally known there were ‘worse places’ where girls were sent when they were thought to have disclosed abuse or misbehaved. The threat of being ‘sent away’ was a potent incentive to which several witnesses reported they responded by enduring the abuse to which they were subjected.

Five (5) of the above witnesses reported being abused by being molested and digitally penetrated by combinations of religious and lay staff, both male and female. Three (3) of those witnesses reported being sexually abused on different occasions by two religious Sisters, a member of the clergy and a lay male care worker. The other two witnesses reported being sexually abused on a number of occasions by pairs of female lay care workers. One witness also reported that episodes of sexual abuse perpetrated by two female lay staff were associated with physical violence during which she was stripped of her clothes and beaten. Another witness reported being restrained by two male ancillary workers in a farm shed while she was sexually assaulted. The men were employed by the Sisters as farm workers. Another witness gave the following account of being sexually abused by a lay care worker: I was sexually abused by a nun and a carer ... (lay care staff).... He was supposed to be in charge of the boys section. He had no business over with the girls. There was a nun with him ...Sr X and lay care worker... she would come into the room with him. You didn’t need a nun to wash you at 13 years of age, but she did, she would fondle you in the bath and examine you and get you ready for him .... He used then collect me from boarding school and he used do it ... touching, fondling and then you would have to masturbation...(masturbate)... him.... I remember even telling Sr ...Y (Resident Manager)... and she told me to keep the rug over my legs in the car.

Twenty three (23) witnesses reported being sexually abused by the fathers of families to whom they were sent for weekends or holidays. The Committee heard 13 reports of witnesses being sexually abused, by male relatives in seven instances and by sons of the families with whom they were placed in six other instances. Two (2) witnesses reported being raped by both the adolescent son and a friend in their holiday placement. In both of these instances the witness was less than 12 years old at the time. I remember going back in the car, he ...(father in holiday family)... stopped and said to me “if you tell anyone ...(about sexual abuse)... I will tell the priest it was your fault”. This is the hold they had over you, you were petrified. The nuns wouldn’t believe you. I told Sr ...X... once and she beat me black and blue with a hand brush, she said “you are a terrible liar” and what a good family they were. O God, I can’t even talk about it, I feel sick ...distressed.... I couldn’t sleep at night it was on my mind for a long time. I went to that family every month until I ...(left the School)... even after I had told Sr ...X....

Witnesses also reported the practice of residents being sent by staff in the Schools to mind children and do housework for families during school holidays and being sent out to work for local families and clergy in the afternoons and at weekends. Twelve (12) men, including one member of the clergy, were identified as sexually abusive by witnesses in this context. All the witnesses reported being less than 16 years old at the time they were abused. The abuse reported included rape and attempted rape, digital penetration, molestation and genital exposure. One witness reported that she was hospitalised having taken an overdose of tablets in the context of repeated rape by the father of the family in her work placement. The family were professionals and made discreet arrangements for her to be hospitalised, following which the sexual abuse ceased although she continued to be sent to the family. She reported she had told the religious Sisters she did not like going to this family but they insisted she continue. I think they were very, very stupid, the people in the care home. We were very unhappy going out and they should have known that. I feel very, very angry with them.

Five (5) witnesses reported being sexually abused during the night by male employers in work placements, two of whom reported being raped in these circumstances. Others described attempted rape or did not describe the sexual abuse in detail. I was working looking after the children. One time the mother had gone away. She was very nice, he... (work placement father)... was horrible.... One time she left me looking after the children. I was in bed he ...(work placement father)... came to me in to bed, I was asleep and he woke me up, and took me to his room ...crying.... I didn’t know why, I didn’t know what he was trying to do, he tried to rape me.... I was so scared, I was terrified. I couldn’t tell anyone, there was this threat of being sent to ...named laundry....

Witnesses reported being sexually abused by 16 nuns, 10 of whom were named. The abuse included contact sexual abuse such as kissing, fondling and vaginal penetration by an object. Sexual abuse by religious Sisters was most often reported to have occurred in collaboration with another person, either religious or lay staff, in the context of personal care and preparing for bed. Four (4) witnesses also described separate instances of inappropriate fondling by Sisters. ‘At night she would come to the bedroom, stroke my breasts, and then give me a packet of biscuits and say something like it was all temptation from the devil.’

Fourteen (14) clergy, 11 of whom were named, were reported by 23 witnesses to have sexually abused them. The reported abuse ranged from inappropriate touching and fondling to vaginal and anal rape. Two (2) of the clergy were each named by five witnesses as perpetrators of sexual abuse, both of the witnesses and their co-residents. One of the priests was described as ‘thinking he owned the convent and us girls’ as a witness described: He was always there ...(Fr X)... when we were getting a bath, he was there all the time. I could see what he was doing to other girls, touching them. Nobody wanted to bring his breakfast in, none of the girls. We used say it to Sr ...Y... she was a nice nun, she would have protected us from the other nuns, she was a lovely nun. But she couldn’t see past Fr ...X... because he was a priest. We said to her what he was doing and she said “but he is a priest, he is just being friendly”. I rebelled against him then when I was I2 or 13, I fought him and wouldn’t let him go near me. He beat me then with a leather, a belt from his trousers ... on the legs, on the hand and the back of the hands.