SCOTLAND
The Courier
By MICHAEL ALEXANDER, 27 May 2014
A West Lothian man who says he was abused at a residential school in Fife during the mid-1960s has backed calls for a full national inquiry into all institutional abuse across Scotland.
The man, who asked to be identified only as John, contacted The Courier after reading that six men with links to a notorious Irish Catholic brotherhood have been arrested and charged in connection with allegations of serious child abuse at the former St Ninian’s School in Falkland, which was run by the Irish Christian Brothers.
John, who said he had “bottled up” his experiences for more than 40 years, said he only now felt able to speak about the “hell” he went through having read on The Courier website that others have come forward.
John, whose family feel they have been “scarred” by those experiences decades ago, said it upset him greatly to recall the abuse but he wants to see justice done.
Born in Edinburgh, the 62-year-old married father-of-three and grandfather-of-five said he was 10 months old when he and his older brother were sent into the care of nuns at Nazareth House in Bonnyrigg — itself the focus of an abuse scandal — where he said conditions were “brutal”.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.