SNP ask for child abuse probe

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Oct 3, 1999 | by Hugh Farmer

THE SNP is to press the Scottish executive this week to set up a Government commission to investigate child abuse at homes run by religious orders of the Catholic Church in Scotland.

Glasgow MSP Nicola Sturgeon has asked Scottish Justice Minister Jim Wallace for an urgent meeting to discuss establishing the commission into allegations of the sexual and physical abuse of children who were in the care of nuns and priests.

Sturgeon, who is the SNP spokesperson on Child Welfare, has also been in contact this week with Glasgow lawyer Cameron Fyfe, who is acting for a number of men and women throughout Scotland who are claiming sex abuse and cruelty at the hands of nuns and Religious Brothers while in their care in homes in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Stirling.

Sturgeon hopes a commission similar to that ordered in Dublin by the Irish Government to investigate similar charges could be set up in Scotland. It was only this week that Sturgeon learned of the full horror of the allegations after meeting with a former resident of Nazareth House in Cardonald, Glasgow, which was run by the Poor Sisters of Nazareth.

She said: "What I was told was very worrying. I appreciate the trauma these former residents have suffered throughout their lives and if there is something a Scottish parliament can do for them then it should be done as soon as possible.

"I am now aware of the action taken by the Irish Government and how Irish politicians are actively taking up the fight for the victims of similar institutions in Ireland."

Along with the various complaints made by former victims, the Irish commission is investigating the issue of children who died while in religious care. This is also an area that Sturgeon will ask the Justice Minister to examine. In particular, she will focus on the the 45-year-old mystery surrounding the death of a girl called Betsy Owen.

Betsy, who was a resident in Nazareth House in Glasgow, died on an exchange holiday visit to Nazareth House in Aberdeen with other boys and girls from the Glasgow institution. Her limp body was last seen being carried from Aberdeen beach after being recovered from the sea. She had gone into the water to try to retrieve a beach ball and was caught by a strong undercurrent.

One of the girls who was there that day recalls: "When we returned from the beach the nuns would give us no information about Betsy. We never saw her again and we only knew she came from Glasgow." Betsy's friends fear she died and may have been buried in a pauper's grave. If this is the case, they want to give their friend a proper resting place.

Reports of the incident have been given to the police and to Cardinal Winning's office. Cameron Fyfe said: "The incident on the beach at Aberdeen has been mentioned by several of my clients and all their stories match. It is a mystery which would be good to clear up."

The lawyer represents some 500 clients who claim they were abused as children between 1937 and 1978.