DENYING that “orchestrated” abuse took place in child care homes across Scotland should be a crime in the same way Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany, an inquiry has been told.
A former resident of Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark, who lived in the Catholic-run home between 1961-65, said his head was left “spinning” after he read an article suggesting abuse claims about such places were exaggerated.
The witness told the Scottish child abuse inquiry in Edinburgh: “What was happening there was a crime against humanity. It was orchestrated. It went on for years. I think it was a Holocaust of developmental trauma, inflicted upon thousands of children over decades.
“In Germany it’s a crime to deny the Holocaust, and I would like it to be a crime for academics to deny these years and years of abuse.
“Scotland has to face up to this – if you don’t know your own country’s history, you don’t know anything.”
The man, who is in his 60s, said he still has a recurring nightmare about his time at Smyllum and wakes up screaming. He said the nuns were “quick to aggression” and “quick to anger”. The witness added: “Being in a place like that was about survival, if you came out there alive you were lucky. Many didn’t.”
He said he had “blocked out” abuse by a man he was told was a potential foster carer. He said: “I remember thinking, ‘This is wonderful – maybe I’ll have a real dad and live in his nice house.’ I remember being taken to the bedroom and then I don’t remember anything at all.”
His next recollection was that it was morning and of being taken back to the home, which was formerly run by Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.
Colin MacAulay QC, counsel to the inquiry, put it to him that nuns described the home as a “happy place”, but he rejected this. The inquiry continues.
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