Girl attacked by stranger she was told was her father, abuse inquiry hears

A girl was sexually attacked by a man she was told was her father after being taken away for the day from a children's home, an inquiry has heard.

A witness told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) she was around nine years old when she was assaulted by the man who was a “stranger'' to her during her time as a resident at Nazareth House in Cardonald, Glasgow.

“I'd like to know why he was allowed to come and take us,'' she told the hearing.

The SCAI sitting in Edinburgh is currently examining children's homes, no longer operating, which were run by the Catholic congregation the Sisters of Nazareth in Scotland.

The woman, who cannot be named, told the inquiry she was at the Glasgow home for around eight years in the 1970s.

She recounted how, on one occasion, she was at school when a member of staff came to tell her she had a visitor at the home, something that made her “so excited''.

She returned to the home and was taken away by a man in a car, she said.

“I was told the man that was there was my father and we were going away for the day,'' she explained.

The witness told how she went to a house, where she played with one dog and was encouraged to see another dog.

“He put his arm around me,'' she said of the man.

“Bearing in mind, nobody had ever put their arms around me, nobody had ever told me they loved me, it was acceptable.

“I don't know to this day if sexual intercourse took place. He was on top of me and it was sore.

“I've never thought of being raped because it wasn't violent, I consented and I felt loved.''

Inquiry chair Lady Smith told the witness: “Do you realise you were not old enough to give any consent to anything sexual happening?

She asked the woman if she appreciated that “anything that happened between you and this man'' was not her fault.

Senior counsel to the inquiry, Colin MacAulay QC, later asked the woman if the man was a stranger.

“Yes, I didn't know him,'' she replied.

The woman also told of various abuses she said she suffered at the hands of a nun at the home, including force feedings and frequent beatings.

One on occasion, she said the nun washed her mouth out with soap and thrashed her with a belt after she swore at the sister.

She said she would think of “the grim reaper'' at the home.

“There was always a big black silhouette over my bed ... Now I do believe it was a nun,'' she said.

The woman said she went to the police around 2001 and recounted her experiences but was told that nothing could be done because the case was time-barred.

On being told that the nun in question does not accept that she treated children in the way described, the witness replied: “It doesn't matter any more, but judgment day comes for everybody.

“I have no anger, I don't want anybody to get punished, I was just here to tell the story.'