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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Wellington: 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, " she said. Catholic Social
Services (CSS) 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. The third day of the
hearing yesterday was stopped frequently when the woman began screaming or
crying. At one point she said
she wanted to talk to "her little girl", an apparent reference to
herself. “I have got to tell my
little girl that she was not an experiment, because she wants to scream and
she has got to shut up.” The 45-year-old, whose
name is suppressed, clutched a small soft toy as she was cross-examined. Lawyer Greg Thomas,
acting for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington and Catholic Social
Services, questioned whether all her requests to CSS had been refused as she
claimed. She replied that she was denied everything but the bare basics. "That was why I
went and nicked stuff . . . I never got caught you know." Later, she said she got
knickers, bras and make-up. "I got the lot - no-one knew.” She agreed CSS had paid
for driving lessons, more than the usual number. She said she was a bit slow
and needed extra lessons. Other girls had clothes
and make-up. “I wanted the things they had,” she tearfully told Justice
Marion Frater. One foster family had
instilled in her a love of classical music. “I dance around and do
my dance of the big fat elephant and I do my ballet . . . Have you heard The
Waltz of the Flowers?” she asked Justice Frater. “It’s fantastic; it is just
unreal." She denied asking those
foster parents to say she had been disturbed when she went to live with them.
She said documents from the time had said she was disturbed, and she may have
talked to them about it when she visited from Australia in 2000. She will continue
giving evidence today. |
