NEW ZEALAND
Stuff
02 August 2005
A woman suing the Catholic church over alleged physical and sexual abuse collapsed in the witness box at the High Court in Wellington today, halting the hearing.
Earlier the woman hurled a folder of documents toward a lawyer and screamed, swore and cried under questioning.
The 45-year-old woman is claiming $550,000 in a civil suit against the Wellington Catholic Archdiocese, Catholic Social Services, The Sisters of Mercy (Wellington) Trust Board, and St Joseph's Orphanage Trust Board over alleged abuse.
The respondents' lawyer had been questioning her about her alleged rape by a male member of a foster family approved by the church, she had stayed with in the mid-1970s.
The woman began screaming when asked when and where she stayed with the family,
She yelled: "Jesus ... I'm not an animal."