Woman tells abuse inquiry of ‘life stolen’ at Glasgow children’s home

A former orphanage resident has told an inquiry she was sent to a shrine in France to cure her of a “mental illness” by a nun who called her evil.

Paula Chambers was giving evidence at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry when she said her “life had been stolen” during her time at Nazareth House in Cardonald, Glasgow, in the 1980s.

The 45-year-old told how a nun sent her to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, to get rid of a “mental illness”.

Ms Chambers, who has waived her right to anonymity, said: “She said it’s a holy shrine where people go. I asked ‘what’s wrong with me?’

“She said ‘you’ve got a mental illness, if you go to Lourdes you will be cured’.

“I thought I was alright. It was a pilgrimage of people that had something wrong with them.”

The inquiry heard the same nun at the Catholic-run orphanage would call her evil.

Ms Chambers added: “She just told me I was in there because I was a bad child, my mother couldn’t cope with me.

“I was evil, she said to me on a few occasions.”

She described another nun as being a “light” to her and a “mother figure”, but the overall experience at the home, she said was “very, very bad”.

She added: “It’s destroyed my life. I’m left with mental health that I can’t control.

“I was a happy baby child, now I’ve got four or five things wrong with me.

“I just feel like my life has been stolen from me.”

The inquiry also heard that a volunteer at the home would sexually assault children there.

Ms Chambers said: “(He was) kissing and touching all the time – everybody knew it was going on.”

The inquiry before Lady Smith continues on Friday.

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