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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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A woman who says nuns
hit and abused her at Catholic schools and an orphanage needed time to
"get back" from the places she was talking about while giving
evidence from the witness stand. "I am on the
stairs, you have got to let me get out of the stairs," she told lawyer
Chris Finlayson. The woman, who has name
suppression, was still caught in the past when he tried to ask his next
question. "Can I get down from the stairs please," she asked. Yesterday was her third
and final day giving evidence in the High Court at Wellington in her $550,000
claim against four Catholic organisations. Mr Finlayson, acting for The
Sisters of Mercy (Wellington) Trust Board and St Joseph's Orphanage Trust
Board, said witnesses would give evidence contradicting what the woman said
about the way she was treated at St Joseph's and St Mary's College in the
1960s and 70s. The woman is also suing
Wellington's Roman Catholic Archdiocese and Catholic Social Services. At St Mary's, where she
boarded, the woman said all her belongings fitted into a suitcase. She agreed
records showed money was spent on clothes and other items, but said she had
very few possessions. A nun had arranged for
her to have an eye test but nothing was done for an ear injury that she
claimed happened when a nun at St Joseph's hit her across the side of the
head. The assault is denied, and the defendants say infection was the more
likely cause of her perforated eardrum. The woman's expert witness says a
blow was almost certainly the cause. She said nuns at St
Joseph's had better food than the children. "Can I show you where we
used to throw the food out the window . . . Bloody tripe and stuff like
that." Mr Finlayson asked more
questions but the woman was still thinking about the food. "I am just
looking at that tripe. Oh my God." After more questions
the woman said she was again in the past. "Hang on, I'm in the coat room
and you have got to let me get out." Recalling hair washing
also took her back. "Let me get out of the bathroom please," she
said when Mr Finlayson asked his next question. "I told you I am chocka,
and let me please come out of where I am." The woman's sister is
to give evidence today. |
