Alleged Victim Tells Court She Was Tied to a Pole and Beaten by Nuns at Approved School

Daily Record
April 26, 2013

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/alleged-victim-tells-court-tied-1852150

Paisley Sheriff Court

A TEENAGER was tortured and tied to a pipe for two days at a nun-run school, a court has heard.

Catherine Logan, now 57, claimed that nuns from Dalbeath Approved School in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, abused her during her time there between 1969 and 1971.

Mrs Logan told Paisley Sheriff Court that she was hit about 12 or 13 times – including with a riding crop – and alleged she was drugged.

She was giving evidence at the trial of Anne Kenny, 79, and Agnes Reville, 77.

Kenny faces four charges of assault, while Reville is accused of five charges of assault. The accusations involve a total of eight girls.

Mrs Logan identified Kenny as Mother Rosari and Reville as Mother Martin – both nuns at the school at the time. She told prosecutor Douglas Hamilton that she was tortured when she got into trouble.

On one occasion, she was tied to a pole for two days in a broom cupboard after pulling a nun’s habit off.

The fiscal asked: “In what way were you tied to a pole?”

She replied: “Both arms around the pole with wire.”

Mr Hamilton asked what happened during her time in the cupboard.

Mrs Logan told him: “I was in there for two days. I was hit with something like a carpet beater.”

She also said another nun sat on her chest while Mother Rosari bound her wrists to the pole.

The court was told that Mother Rosari hit her with the implement like a carpet beater, causing her spleen to rupture. Mrs Logan claimed two other girls ran for help and got the police.

When she spoke to officers later, she said her arms were bandaged up.

Police were allegedly told by nuns that Mrs Logan had been self-harming.

Mrs Logan claimed she did not remember a lot from when she came out of the cupboard because she was “drugged”.

She claimed Mother Rosari drugged her more than once. And she alleged that Mother Rosari smacked her on the face with a riding crop.

Mrs Logan told the jury that Mother Martin “wasn’t an evil person” and did not abuse her as much.

However, the witness claimed the nun abused other girls more.

Kenny, of Manchester, and Reville, of Newcastle, deny the charges.

The trial continues.