Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

St Ninian’s abuse survivor holds poignant vigil to remember victims

Dave Sharp.
Dave Sharp.

A survivor of sex abuse has held a vigil outside St Andrews Cathedral in Glasgow.

Dave Sharp, 57, organised the event, during which candles were lit and a piper played a lament to remember victims.

Before the event, he told The Courier he intended to invite church leaders to pray with him for those who had lost their lives to abuse.

Mr Sharp, who has been campaigning for justice for abuse victims, raised banners claiming victims like himself had been “abandoned” by the Catholic Church.

He said: “We need the Scottish public to help us to get the Scottish Government and the church leaders to stop turning their backs on us and to come out and talk to us about what they are doing about helping all those people who continue to suffer in isolation and addiction.”

Mr Sharp gave evidence to police as part of a recent investigation into historic abuse at St Ninian’s School in Falkland.

However, he did not participate in the subsequent trial because his abuser is deceased.

After the 13 week hearing at the High Court in Glasgow, St Ninian’s headmaster John Farrell, 73, and teacher Paul Kelly, 64, were convicted of physically and sexually abusing boys.

They are due to be sentenced on Friday.

The offences happened between 1979 and 1983, when the school closed.

It was the first case in Scotland involving the Congregation of Christian Brothers, which is an independent Catholic organisation.

The Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community which has previously been at the centre of abuse scandals in England, Ireland, Canada, America and Australia.

Mr Sharp added: “I think that we must all take time and stand together as a nation to pause and to pray for all the children of Scotland whose lives were taken from them as a result of child abuse.”