Court date for 'abuse charge' nun

A nun who has been charged with child abuse at children's homes run by the Catholic Church in Scotland is due to face trial on Monday.
Sister Alphonso - alias 57-year-old Marie Docherty - has been accused of cruelty against 23 girls between 1962 and 1980.

It is alleged the abuse was carried out at Nazareth House bases in Aberdeen and Midlothian.

The accused denies the charges, which include beating girls with hairbrushes, toys and cutlery, dragging them by the hair and force-feeding them, all causing injury.

A sheriff last month rejected claims that the case had been unreasonably delayed.

Sister Alphonso's defence agent claimed at an earlier court hearing that the indictment was "incompetent".

'Unreasonable delay'

Jim Hay argued that the Crown had been responsible for an unreasonable delay in bringing the case to trial, since it was nearly three years since the charges had been brought.

This was rejected by Sheriff Colin Harris, who ruled that there had been no unreasonable delay.

The trial is due to take place at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

The Poor Sisters of Nazareth ran children's homes in Glasgow and Lanarkshire as well as in Aberdeen and Midlothian.

The Nazareth base in Aberdeen, which is given as Sister Alphonso's address, was founded in 1872 and at one time housed more than 300 children.

It became an old people's home in 1982, caring mainly for elderly women.

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