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January 7, 2001 |
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United Kingdom: Scotland
Wednesday
August 16, 2000
15:14 GMT
'NUN BEAT ME WITH STEEL SPOON
Marie Docherty faces 23 charges, all of which are denied. The charges
date from 1965 to 1980. They include - forcing girls to kiss dead nuns,
punching, slapping and kicking girls, and forcing girls to wear soiled
underwear.
A COURT HAS BEEN TOLD THAT AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD WET HERSELF IN FEAR WHEN SHE
WAS BEATEN
with a steel serving spoon by a nun.
Magdalene Crocker, who is now 42, broke down in tears as she described
the incident to Aberdeen
Sheriff Court during the trial of Sister Alphonso.
Mrs. Crocker said she arrived at Nazareth House in Aberdeen in 1965 with
her six brothers and sisters,
when her parents' marriage broke up.
She said she was a good singer and that when she was aged about eight she
was chosen to represent
her school and the Brownies at the Alberdeen Music Festival.
This meant she needed two uniforms, but she said when she mentioned this
to sister Alphonso, who was in charge of her group, she was told to go and wait in the
toilet.
Her voice breaking with emotion, Mrs. Crocker described how the nun arrived with a steel
serving spoon in her hand and started lashing her around the head with it.
Mrs. Crocker said the nun was saying something about uniforms.
Contacted Bishop ...
She went on: "I was scared and frightened. I was so scared i wet
myself."
Mrs. Crocker, who is now a social work therapist, then recalled feeling
her head was wet. She looked at her hand
and found blood.
The court heard she decided to speak to Grampian Police about four years
ago after they contacted her younger
sister in connection with Nazareth House.
She only contacted her solicitor after that because Aberdeen's Roman
Catholic bishop Mario Conti had said the church was offering to help
former residents of Nazareth House.
Mrs. Crocker asked the bishop for reassurance that he would investigate
the past. She said: "He made me very cross because he tried in his
comments to minimize what happened."
He said in those days it was hard and "discipline was discipline".
Mrs. Crocker said she asked Bishop Conti if the church was an accountable
organization.
Apology Sought ...
She said his words to her were: "We are an autonomous organization and
we're not accountable to anybody."
She agreed she was now suing the church but "didn't want their blood
money".
Asked what she did want, she replied: "That Sister Alphonso could say
she was sorry, that Nazareth House could say that they were sorry, and admit they didn't
get everything right."
Earlier, she told the court how sister Alphonso took her to a mortuary at
the house and made her kiss a dead nun. She said she remembered the
stench in the room.
Asked about Nazareth House Mrs. Crocker told the court: "I feel so ashamed.
I feel dirty and horrible about my past in that place."
The trial continues.
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