CLARKSTOWN (NY)
Clarkstown Daily Voice
Dec. 12, 2019
By Zak Failla
A former student at an area private school has accused a former nun who later took positions of power at schools in Westchester of sexually abusing her in the 1960s.
Sister Ann Peterson has been accused of groping and molesting Pamela Hayes in Orange County at the Saint Joseph School in Middletown during the 1960s, according to court documents. At the time of the alleged abuse, Hayes was 10 years old.
The new lawsuit, filed this week, accuses Peterson of asking Hayes to stay late after school, then she allegedly kissed, groping and molested her, according to the court documents that were filed this week under the New York Child Victim’s Act. The alleged abuse lasted between 1963 and 1967.
The lawsuit was filed against the Archdiocese of New York, Peterson, the Parish of Saint Joseph, St. Joseph School and the Ursuline Sisters of the Eastern Province, based in New Rochelle.
Court documents say that Peterson abused Hayes by “hugging, kissing, massaging, caressing and touching her breasts and genitals.” It states that Hayes continues to feel “traumatized, ashamed, embarrassed and humiliated.”
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