SCOTLAND
Express
By DAVID SCOTT
Tue, May 23, 2017
Two former pupils were giving evidence in the trial of 83-year-old Thomas Seed, also known as Father Benedict, and one told a jury that bullying was common at the Fort Augustus Abbey school on the shores of Loch Ness.
Tax inspector Sean Stone claimed the OAP beat him with a cane “in a rage”, until he was bleeding, after he retaliated against a school bully.
“I have a vivid memory of Father Benedict in his black cassock running towards me and striking me on the side of the head with his fist,” he said.
“Then, he took me by the scruff of the neck, bounced my head off the ground and punched me on the face.
“His anger was severe, shouting at me in an uncontrolled rage.”
The 52-year-old added: “I didn’t think it was a caning. This was a beating. Sitting down was impossible and I spent two days off school at home lying face down.”
He was giving evidence in the second day of Seed’s trial at Inverness Sheriff Court.
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