Termonbacca Nuns "Nearly Psychotic"

Belfast Telegraph
January 28, 2014

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/termonbacca-nuns-nearly-psychotic-29957371.html

Nuns who ran a hell hole children's home in Northern Ireland were nearly psychotic, a former resident said.

The Sisters of Nazareth property in Londonderry was like Auschwitz, youngsters' screams of despair still haunting survivors, the UK's largest ever inquiry into institutional child abuse was told.

Inmates formed chain gangs to polish floors until they sparkled - with arms linked and rags under both feet - and were beaten with bamboo canes and straps.

One witness reported sexual abuse by older boys to a nun.

The sister allegedly said: "You are a bad boy, you are going to hell, nothing like that ever happened."

He said the assault happened in St Joseph's Home, Termonbacca.

The witness said: "That was the reaction, a coldness and heartlessness about the place that will always scare you.

"I never heard children cry like I have in that place, it was one of despair and that still haunts me a little bit, it was a scream of despair."

The treatment of children in church-run residential homes is a key concern of the investigation being held in Banbridge, Co Down. It is chaired by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart and is considering cases in 13 residential institutions between 1922, the foundation of Northern Ireland, and 1995.

One witness described the atmosphere.

"It was a form of psychological abuse, you were rescued like a Jew, a tinker, a tramp born at the back of the road, you were worth nothing," he said.

Another added: "The whole atmosphere of Termonbacca was not asking and not being informed, you were a number, you were not worthy of information, you were told what to do."

He was transferred from Derry to Salthill, run by the Christian Brothers on the outskirts of Galway city on the Republic of Ireland's west coast.

"The comparison was two hell holes. Which was better? It is difficult to describe when things are bad, you are on a race to the bottom. Salthill was Auschwitz, Termonbacca was Treblinka, it was somewhat better."

There were rare moments of kindness, a Christmas party at the nearby British Army base of Ballykelly, long before the polarising effect of the Troubles, a school master paying for a bus home when it was snowing and the boys were wearing short trousers.