A WOMAN who claims she was indecently assaulted by a nun as a child
said her ordeal "all came back" to her three decades later when she
heard the nun's voice in a shop.
The woman was the final
complainant of seven to give evidence at the trial of Sr Mary Theresa
Grogan, formerly known as Sr Peter.
She told Sligo Circuit Court
that the nun indecently assaulted her as an eight-year-old more than 35
years ago. A second woman also made similar claims in court yesterday.
The
final complainant, a 47-year-old who is now the mother of a 17-year-old
girl, told the court yesterday "it all came back" when she heard Sr
Grogan's voice in 2006 in a shop in the town where the school is
located.
The trial had already heard from five other women, saying
the 63-year-old nun put her hand inside their underwear and petted
their bottom. Some said she also moved her hand round to touch their
vagina.
The court has also been told the nun was just out of
teacher training college when the alleged offences were committed in a
primary school in the Midlands.
Sr Grogan, of the Mercy Order, has
denied 63 counts of indecent assault against seven women when they were
seven and eight-year-olds.
The court was told she was principal of the school for a period in the 1980s while she was still known as Sr Peter.
She changed to Sr Mary Theresa Grogan when she joined the missions in Zambia in 1990.
The
prosecution case is expected to end today and the defence will start
next week.
The case was moved from the Midlands town where the alleged
offences happened to Sligo at the defence's request.