Indecent Assault Trial Of Nun Hears From Alleged Victims

In the ongoing trial of Sr Mary Theresa Grogan a now 45-year-old mother of two has spoken of her horror when she was trapped inside a school library with a the nun accused of indecent assault.

Grogan, who was known as Sr Peter when she taught at a primary school in the Midlands in the 1970s and 1980s, denies 63 charges of indecent assault against seven pupils between 1973 and 1977.

The witness told Sligo Circuit Court that she was bending over a press in the library when she looked around. Sr Peter was there and she pressed her against the wall and fondled her breasts.

"I thought, 'How am I going to get out of this?' She grabbed me and started fondling my breasts. I don't know how I got out," the woman told the court.

She went on to say that as a child she was a slow reader and that Sr Peter called her up in class to read out loud. The nun then put her hand down the child's pants, rubbing her bottom and moving round to the front, while the other children had their heads down on the desks after being instructed in Irish to go to sleep.

The trial, which was transferred to Sligo on a defence request from the Midlands town where the offences are alleged to have happened and is in its second week, continues.

(H)