Nazareth Lodge: Family to get £250,000 over Belfast home abuse

The family of a man physically and sexually abused at a Belfast children's home is to receive £250,000 in damages.

A High Court judge said the late John McGuinness's life had been "blighted" by the treatment he suffered as a boy staying in Nazareth Lodge.

He also awarded £185,000 to a woman for the beatings and humiliation she endured at the same home in the 1970s.

The separate actions were taken against the Sisters of Nazareth religious order.

It ran facilities on Belfast's Ravenhill Road.

Both actions involved claims for negligence, assault and battery and trespass to the person, based on failures to ensure the safety of children in care.

Patricia McClarnon, 59, the woman who was awarded £185,000, said staff made her bathe in barely diluted disinfectant, rubbed her face in soiled bed linen and forced her to remain alone in a darkened storeroom.

The court heard Ms McClarnon suffered a catalogue of abuse at the home.

'Assaulted by nuns'

Mr McGuinness spent two years in the home after being taken there in 1970 at the age of seven.

He claimed a number of nuns assaulted him.

As well as one sister who used her knuckles to inflict blows, other beatings involved the use of a wooden clog.

There were also threats and warnings of further punishment if he told his mother or anyone else about what was happening to him.

He further alleged that a handyman who worked at the premises subjected him to regular sexual assaults in the toilets.

Mr McGuinness died in 2020 at the age of 59, and the lawsuit was taken on by his daughter Lindsay O'Neill.

As well as being regularly humiliated in front of other residents for wetting the bed, Ms McClarnon said any toys or food meant as gifts for her were never passed on by staff.

At Christmas parties, presents given to the children were taken from them once visitors had left.

Ms McClarnon said she was beaten every day, sometimes with a stick, and repeatedly put into either scalding or freezing cold baths.

She described the food at the home as terrible and if she did not eat what was given to her, it would be re-served the following day.

Children were warned not to say anything to anyone about what was happening at the home, she said.

'Severe damage and pain'

The defendants denied the extent of personal injuries, and argued that the form of alleged corporal punishment when Mr McGuinness was a resident had been "appropriate and commensurate to the accepted educational practices".

It was also contended that the claims should be statute barred on grounds of delay.

But identifying no prejudice, the judge, Mr Justice Simpson, held that liability had been established in each case.

Awarding £250,000 in damages to Mr McGuinness's estate, the judge said: "It is clear that the entirety of his life post-care was significantly blighted by what had happened to him while in the care of the defendants."

He confirmed that Ms McClarnon is to receive a total pay-out of £185,000 for the physical and emotional abuse she suffered, along with its psychological impact.

Mr Justice Simpson said the treatment she endured was "quite the antithesis of the concept of Christian love which the defendants would have said they espoused".

Speaking outside the court, Claire McKeegan, the solicitor representing both victims, said: "It is important for survivors of abuse to be believed and put the shame of these matters back to the church institutions who failed them.

"It is evident that the High Court, in making these rulings and significant awards, recognise the severe damage, pain and suffering caused by physical, emotional and sexual child abuse."