'Broken teeth' claim at nun trial

The home where Mrs Cusiter stayed

A woman has told a court that a nun threw her against a wall, breaking her front teeth, when she was 13 years old. Helen Cusiter, 43, was giving evidence on the second day of a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court. Marie Docherty, 59, also known as Sister Alphonso, denies 23 charges of cruel treatment of children at Nazareth House homes in Aberdeen and Midlothian between 1965 and 1980. Mrs Cusiter, who lived at the home in Aberdeen from 1967 to 1971, said Sister Alphonso would pick on children and "batter" them up to three times a week.

Marie Docherty denies all the charges

She told the court she had been sitting on a swing at the home in Aberdeen when Sister Alphonso grabbed her hair without warning and threw her into the wall, breaking four of her front teeth. Earlier, she said that in another incident the nun had turned "as red as a lobster" while beating her with her fists and boots for stealing sweets from a nearby shop. Mrs Cusiter said Sister Alphonso only stopped when she thought she was unconscious, but later denied carrying out the beating. After one beating, her bruises had been noticed during a school PE class and the matter raised with the headmaster. Made to kiss feet "I was covered in bruises. The whole of my body was black and blue," she told the court. One another occasion, she said she was made to kiss the nun's feet to gain permission to go swimming. "It was so degrading, humiliating," Mrs Cusiter added.

Helen Cusiter arrives at court

The witness also recalled going to Sister Alphonso when she had her first period. She said the nun called her "a dirty bitch" and said that was what happened to people who did not behave. It was God's punishment and she would have until midnight and would then die, Mrs Cusiter said she was told. Under cross-examination by defence advocate Paul Cullen QC, Mrs Cusiter said she believed some members of the Order of the Poor Sisters of Nazareth had "got together" to fabricate evidence relating to the case. She said: "Under the habits they are only human after all. Damages action "They haven't got wings attached to their backs. They're no angels." Asked about a civil action she has raised seeking £150,000 damages from the order for psychiatric problems, Mrs Cusiter claimed she was not after money but justice. The charges further accuse Docherty of washing girls' hair with disinfectant and forcing them to wear soiled underwear and bed linen on their heads. Other allegations include forcing some youngsters to kiss a dead nun. The trial continues.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/881408.stm