SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland
Stephen Naysmith
CHARITIES and church groups queued up to apologise on the opening day of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) as the long-awaited investigation took evidence in public for the first time.
The chair of what is expected to be Scotland’s biggest and most expensive public inquiry, Lady Scott, had invited them to do so, using their opening statements to consider ‘retrospective acknowledgement’ if abuse had taken place.
Some were more forthcoming than others. Quarriers offered an “unreserved apology” to those abused while in the care of the charity, via Kate Dowdalls QC, while Laura Dunlop QC for the Church of Scotland’s social care arm Crossreach said it was “Inescapable that the church has provided the setting in which children were abused. That is profoundly regretted by all … connected with the Church of Scotland in any way.”
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.