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”.
Eventually the two brothers arrived at “horrendous” St Ninian’s in Falkland, where he remembers numerous beatings. He was in tears as he spoke to The Courier but went on, with his daughter’s support.
“It was a breeding ground for abuse. I remember being hit about the head. Being hit, being hit, being hit. Being abused. It’s all in my subconscious now because I’ve tried to forget. But now it’s all coming back.
“Seeing it on the news and then reading it in the newspaper. I can’t believe they got away with it. It ruined my life. It left me a broken man.”
John, who ended up in a hostel when he came out of care, revealed that he was separated from his brother at a young age.
He said his brother had been particularly traumatised by the experiences at St Ninian’s and had never been able to hold down a relationship or lead a normal life and he is particularly upset that he and his brother have no relationship now.
The man’s daughter, who now works with children excluded from mainstream schools, said: “Although it happened 40 or 50 years ago, we need justice because people are still suffering. They are scarred for life.
“My dad was robbed of his childhood. As a boy he never went to bed on Christmas Eve thinking he would get presents the next day. It breaks my heart to think of that.”