NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
BY CLAIRE WILLIAMSON – 12 FEBRUARY 2014
The emotional distress of life in a children’s home run by nuns left a woman feeling as if she had “descended into hell,” an inquiry has been told.
Three former residents of Nazareth House in Londonderry gave evidence yesterday to the Historical Abuse Inquiry (HIA) at Banbridge Court House in Co Down.
The inquiry is investigating abuse claims against children’s residential institutions in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1995.
They spoke of the physical, mental and sexual abuse they were subjected to as children living in the home.
A female witness described to the inquiry how she was sexually abused by a nun when she was aged just three or four. The woman, now in her 50s, claimed she had been sexually and physically abused by nuns and older girls and said she had prayed she would never have children herself.
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