NEW ZEALAND
Stuff
04 August 2005
A woman suing Catholic authorities for $550,000, alleging a deprived and abusive upbringing, was also a debutante who wore stolen knickers, a court has been told.
"Fancy being presented as a debutante when no one wants you," she laughed in the High Court at Wellington yesterday. And then she began crying. "And I am doing it so my brothers and sisters could be together."
Catholic Social Services paid for the dress and ticket and she and her foster family shared the cost of a pre-ball party. She and her six siblings were reunited for the occasion, she said.
Four Catholic organisations are denying her claims of physical, emotional, verbal and sexual abuse in the late 1960s and 1970s.
The children were placed in care after their parents separated. Nuns mistreated and assaulted her and several men, including a priest, sexually abused her, she said.