2,143 entries for Witness Testimony

Many witnesses who had no family contact reported never knowing basic facts about their own history such as their correct birth name, when their birthday was and where they were born. Birthdays were reported to have been rarely acknowledged for residents in the Schools before the 1970s and many witnesses reported being discharged without any information or record regarding their date or place of birth. They reported being forced by circumstances in later years to search out the necessary records in order to register their marriage, to apply for a passport and for other reasons. It took me years of writing before I found out my own background ... after years and years of searching and negative responses. I have found out my own family ... it was 25 years of looking. My names are wrong on the paperwork, my mother had registered me under ...family name.... I have been writing various letters to different departments, even to Government Departments to find out my own family. I learned last year that the nuns in ...named School... knew that I was not ...allocated family name.... I was ...actual family name.... We all went in ...(to the Schools)... for different reasons, I know there was poverty in Ireland.... When I found the records, from the Courts through the Freedom of Information, I have been dealing with ...Government Department... for years and they never told me about my records being wrong, even though they had the information, they just did not tell me. I found out my mother had been paying for me and had contact, then I was moved to ...School some distance away and contact was lost....

As previously remarked, witnesses who were left-handed or had red hair reported being persecuted by certain nuns in a small number of Schools. There were reports of witnesses being stigmatised and being told they were ‘the hand of the devil’, that they were evil and would burn in hell because they were left-handed. Others reported that their red hair was the subject of criticism and contempt, that it was cut short and at times kept covered. She ...(Sr X)... told me I was the devil’s child ...(because of red hair)... and put me into this room ...(furnace room).... She said “you are the devil’s child, see those flames, you are like the devil”. I thought it was the devil, and she left me there for ages. It was dark, and I definitely thought I was going to die. It was the most frightening thing I ever saw ...crying.... • The worst thing was my period.... When she’d ...(Sister)... beat me, she’d say “I’ll knock the devil out of you if it’s the last thing I do, your mother is a whore, she is a prostitute”. When I got my period I thought this was it, it was the devil coming out. When I got my period, I had to queue, my knickers were all stained and wet. Well, what she ...(Sister)... did, she took me down to a room, where the younger kids were, all the girls were sitting there she lifted my dress up and said “you see this, this is the devil coming out of her, this is what happens when you are like ...surname of witness...”. Those kids would not play with me. The following time it happened, I was so afraid, I hated it so much that I robbed knickers from someone else and flushed my own down the toilet.

Ninety six (96) witnesses reported being bullied by older girls who were co-residents in the Schools. There was a tradition described in the majority of Schools of the ‘older girls’ being in charge and, at times, having premature responsibility for the care of co-residents. These older girls were often reported to be about 15 years old and soon to be discharged. They were often believed to be favourites of the Sisters and known to have special privileges in some Schools. These particular residents were described as having the freedom to bully younger residents without fear of reprimand. Some were also described as kind and often had favourites of their own. They were described as left in charge of groups of children at different times, including: Sundays, evenings, night and play times, without any supervision by staff. The older girls, along with the teachers from outside the school were put in charge of that ...(dormitories)... and life became unbearable. The older girls had to do the laundry and because I wet the bed every night, when the nuns were gone into pray, we were flogged. We were beaten with sticks, legs of chairs, twigs, planks, anything, by the older girls and the teachers ...(lay care staff)... who had to supervise the dormitories, they didn’t teach in classrooms, we had lovely teachers there. We were beaten, called all sorts of names, had the hair pulled out of our heads.... We were threatened when we screamed with pain, with bars of soap stuck in our mouths and towels tied around our mouths so that the nuns couldn’t hear us screaming whilst they were praying. ... The older girls would count up to 20 and if you weren’t in bed you got beaten, and they would count to 20 again and if you weren’t asleep they would beat you again. I would do anything to avoid these punishments and they used to say “I will let you off the flogging if I can have your 2 slices of bread and dripping”.... The older girls were sort of bullies, they used to have dresses of their own, they would wash them and you used to have to dry them under your sheet with the heat of your body and have them dry by morning and you got beaten if they weren’t dry in the morning. There was no heating in the dormitory we used to have to heat their beds and then get into your own cold one.

Three hundred and sixty nine (369) witnesses reported that staff and co-residents observed the abuse in the Schools, although not all incidents of abuse were directly observed. Relatives as well as staff and co-residents were considered to be aware of abuse by the observable injuries incurred by residents as a result of being beaten or assaulted. A number of witnesses described staff members, relatives and external professionals being visibly shocked by the injuries and deprivations to which residents were subjected. They reported that, in some instances, protective action was taken as a result. Mth ...X... she never liked me. ... She threw the jug of hot water over me over my face. I started screaming ... and this nun, Sr ...Y..., she was very nice, she was a lovely person, came along and she took me by the hand up to the infirmary and Sr ...Y... looked after me. She put something cool and white on my face, she took care of me, she was a nurse.

As indicated, while the largest number of witness reports of disclosure were to parents and relatives, the Committee heard 61 reports of abuse being disclosed to the combined categories of religious and lay staff. In addition to the above information 21 witnesses reported telling co-residents about their abuse. One gave the following account of what happened following her disclosure: My uncle came in one day. I told him I was beaten, he complained to the authorities and they contacted Sr ...X.... She came into the class one day and that was my first public beating. She took my clothes off except for my knickers and my shoes and my socks. She said “can anyone see marks on this child?” and everyone said “no”, and then I got my first public beating. That became my punishment, a public beating ... with a stick.

Many witnesses reported being deterred from disclosing abuse for reasons including: threats of harm to themselves, their siblings or family, general fear and fear of further punishment, threats of being transferred to a more restrictive institution, the authority of an older person, bullying and the anticipated disbelief of others. ‘I couldn’t tell anyone, no one believed you, you were told to shut up.’ Forty nine (49) witnesses reported being told not to tell anyone about the abuse they experienced and were threatened with further abuse, or on occasion death, if they did. I remember her ...(mother)... saying “are they good to you?” Sr ...X... was outside the door and she came in and said “you have to go Mrs ...Y...”. I knew not to say ...(anything about being hit)... you would be beheaded, you would be afraid of your life to say what was happening to you.

Witnesses discharged in more recent years reported that there were more opportunities to talk to external professionals and other adults about what was happening in the Schools, although they were not always believed and the subsequent interventions did not always have positive outcomes. Two (2) witnesses who were discharged by the mid-1980s said that their abuse was addressed by social workers. In one instance, following written representation by her grandmother, the witness was eventually moved to a different School by a social worker, where she reported she was happy. Another witness said that despite intervention by their social worker the abuse continued: I saw many social workers over the years, they were no help. The first one arranged to meet us in groups every 2 weeks, the first time we spoke about what was happening it went back to the nuns, something was said to them by the social worker and we got a beating. Subsequently we were seen with the nun present. I have seen the social work record, they took what nuns said as gospel, everything was from their perspective.

The 36 witnesses who reported being punished for disclosing abuse described various means by which their disclosures were dealt with. In certain instances protective action was taken in addition to being punished, while in the majority of instances reported to the Committee punishment was the only known outcome of disclosure. I told another girl ...(about sexual abuse)... she told the nuns, 4 of them beat me, they said I had to go to Confession. I had to say it so loud so that she would hear me confess my sin, then she knew that I had confessed and they ...(four nuns)... said a chant over me. They decided a time and place to beat the devil out of you, they didn’t do it straight away, they made you wait. I always remember her saying ... “you’re a filthy Communist”, it was the time Kennedy ...(US President)... died. The priest didn’t give me any penance.

Other witnesses reported being removed or sent home following disclosure of abuse without any acknowledgement of what had occurred. I tried to escape once to tell the police what was going on. They locked all the shutters, they locked me up and told me “I’ll tell your mam to come and get you”. I wasn’t allowed eat with the kids for 3 weeks. I wasn’t allowed talk to the other girls. Then they made arrangements for me to go to my mam. They brought me to the airport. ... Sr ...X... and Sr ...Y... and she said “you mustn’t say anything about the School”.

A small number of witnesses reported that when they disclosed abuse by a religious person they were warned against identifying the abuser and forced to name another person. One witness reported that following a beating by a nun, who ‘always had a cane hanging out of her’, her hands were so swollen that she was unable to play the piano. The witness told her music teacher who was a member of the religious staff about the beating and the nun replied: ‘“She ...Sr X... didn’t, don’t ever say that. It was one of the older girls wasn’t it?” I was not let resume practice until I said it was an older girl’.

Positive outcomes of disclosure fell into two main categories: removal or admonishment of the reported abuser and protection of the witness from further abuse. ‘She ...(Sr X)... was taken out of there, then the beating stopped.’ There was a Sister there and she caught me eating the butter, I was so hungry. She caught my head and she banged it and banged it off the churn, and I remember putting my hand up and there was blood. The next thing I know was I woke up in bed and all the nuns were coming to see me and bringing me fruit, an apple and an orange, that I had never seen before. After that I got an easier time, and that nun was sent away. I never saw her again.

Eighteen (18) of the 38 witnesses who reported telling their parents that they were being abused and 17 other witnesses who reported abuse to authority figures within the Schools reported that their disclosures instigated positive and protective responses including the dismissal of abusive staff. Witnesses reported that disclosures of abuse to parents was more often believed, but that parental intervention did not always lead to a cessation of abuse. I did not get out of the bed for nearly 3 months ...(following severe beating)... and when I did I found it very hard to walk. The Reverend Mother came up to me after about 2 months and she said “...X... I know who did this.” I said “I’m not going to tell”. She said “I’ll say the name and then we’ll see about it, you don’t have to tell.” ... Sr ...Y...was gone out of the home after that, she was gone ... for a certain period ... she disappeared.

Following their disclosures of abuse 10 witnesses reported being protected from further abuse either by being moved to a different area in the School away from the reported abuser, being transferred from the School to a safe environment or being discharged. Two (2) other witnesses reported that less severe beatings from religious staff followed an intervention from their parents. One witness, who told a hospital nurse about being abused, had her hospital admission extended over the Christmas period. There was a change with a new Reverend Mother, she took a liking to me and I was like a pet, she took me in the parlour and gave me cake, it ...(sexual abuse)... all stopped then.

Sixteen (16) disclosures made to Resident Managers and external professionals resulted in abusers being either admonished or removed, or the resident being moved. A witness told a local priest that she was being sexually abused in her work placement and was moved from the house the following day and protected from further abuse. In seven instances witnesses reported Gardaí became aware of their abuse and in some instances investigated the reports made to them. Four (4) reported running away after beatings and were returned to the School by Gardaí, who were generally sympathetic. One witness’s father went to the Gardaí and she was returned to the School on the understanding that she would not be beaten again. The witness said that she was treated better subsequently. Another witness presented herself to the Gardaí and told them she had been abused; they returned her to the School and were critical of the religious staff for failing to report her absence. A witness from a different School having disclosed abuse reported the following outcome: One day I was called to the parlour and Sr ...X (Resident Manager)... was there and there was a Garda there, he had a hat under his arm, he said to me “I don’t want you to tell me about anything else just ...Y (ancillary male lay staff)...”. You see I had started to tell him about Mr ...Z (holiday family father)... who had ...(also)... abused me. He said “I don’t want you to tell me about that, I only want you to tell me about ...Y...”. I told him everything that happened. I never saw ...Y... again.

Following their disclosures of abuse a small number of witnesses reported being ostracised and isolated from both staff and co-residents, three others reported being transferred to a more isolated School. Sr ...X... she beat me inhuman, she tore me hair out, a big tuft of hair. I picked the hair up and put it underneath the stage and got out through the window and headed to my father. I said “Dad please help me I can’t take anymore”. ... The policeman come knocking at the door. He ...(witness’s father)... showed the hair to the policeman and the bruises all on my body.... he said “how can anyone do that?” ...The policeman said “you bring her back on your word” to my father ...(who lived nearby).... He brought me back.... When I went back in she Sr ...X... told the girls my father was dirt and he was this and that, none was to speak to me. ... So I was like a hermit, done me chores, went to bed in the dormitory and no one could talk to me.