Campaign of cruelty in Catholic children's home

SISTER Alphonso, formerly Marie Docherty, has been found guilty of repeatedly abusing, humiliating and curelly treating young girls in her care at a former children's home run by the Roman Catholic Church, in the Scotland. The nun was found guilty of conducting a 15-year campaign of cruelty against the children. The charges include "ramming a curly worly chocolate bar down a child's throat, throwing items of soiled underwear at another and pushing a girl into a radiator," says a report published in The Times (20-09-2000). Helen Cusiter, 43, was the first to make allegations against Sister Alphonso's treatment of her when she lived at the Nazereth House in Abesoleen. Sister Alphonso was found guilty of cruelty charges relating to four women. She struck Patricia O'Brien against a radiator and punched and slapped her repeatedly. She punched and slapped Halen Cusiter, force fed her and hit her with a hairbrush. She hit Jeanette Adam with a hairbrush and force fed her. She also hit Grace Montgomery, force-fed her sweets and threw soiled underwear at her.

On a visit to a friend in Nazareth House, which became an old folk's home in 1982, Helen Cusiter's assumption that the nun who terrorised her was long gone, turned wrong when she bumped into Sister Alphonoso, still working at the home. Recollecting how the nun had forced her to eat leftover food and bathed her with toilet cleaner 30 years ago, Cusiter had panic attacks which led her to report the abuse. Cusiter, who had arrived at the house at the age of 10, with her two sisters and two brothers after their mother abandoned them, when reported the incidents, was accused of being motivated by greed. As the matter came to light 20 other women called the police to tell the tale of terror and cruelty they had undergone at the hands of Sister Alphonso. "All of the allegations were from children who were subjected to a culture of harsh physical punishment," said Harry Thorburn, Detective Inspector of Grampian Police, as reported in The Times. "She is an evil woman who is capable of pretending to be kind and gentle", said Cusiter reacting to the Sister's cries during her trial that led to adjournment several times.

Sister Alphonso's conviction paves the way for more than 400 compensation claims from former residents who allege that they suffered abuse in children's homes run by the Church in Scotland. It took the jury of six men and nine women ten hours to reach their verdict at the end of the trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court. Sister Alphonso, 58, sat with her head bowed and showed no emotion when the guilty verdict was announced. Sheriff Colin Harris deferred the sentence for medical reports. After the verdict. Helen Cusiter said : "I am delighted that justice has been done.

Four guilty verdicts is adequate proof of what I and others who suffered at the hands of that woman have been saying. We have been vindicated. I hope she is now sent to jail or at the very least disrobed as a nun." Grace Montgomery, another of Sister Alphonso's victims who lived at Nazareth House in Lasswade, Midlothian said : "I am very pleased with the verdict. I am sure that other victims will also be happy with the outcome. We should now be able to put it all behind us." Christian community all over the world commented on the so-called atrocities on Christian missionaries in India and even alleged certain organisation had a hand in the 'incidents'. These allegations had proved wrong. Recently a nun in a missionary home in Calcutta was charged of cruelty to little girls (see, Organiser, 01-10-2000, p. 18). It is not strange that the Church, and the Christian community in India and abroad has not been moved by these nuns' cruelty to the children in their custody to comment. Cruelty to the inmates of 'homes' run by the Churches in the name of services is universal, be it Calcutta or Scotland. Is 'oppression' part of the 'Order'?

Copyright@ 2006-2010 Ann Thompson

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