A former pupil at a Fife residential school has told how he was raped by a priest when he was a teenager.
Charlie, was placed in St John Bosco’s School in Aberdour in the 1970s for “care and protection” after his mother said she no longer wanted him.
But he told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry he was instead subjected to sexual abuse and violence.
St John Bosco’s was an approved residential school for junior Roman Catholic boys.
Run by Salesian Fathers of St John Bosco in Aberdour, it closed in 1982.
The site is now occupied by Hillside School, which has no connection to the allegations.
Told not to tell anyone
Charlie, a pseudonym, said he initially liked his time there.
However, he later described a “brutal regime” where priests regularly belted, punched and slapped the boys.
Charlie broke down as he described being raped after he was made an altar boy.
“He was going to show me what to do, how to swing the incense and things like that,” he said.
The priest told the teenager to take off his clothes and put on a robe.
And Charlie added: “He put me over the table and held my head down and he raped me.
“I was screaming and he started holding my mouth.
“He turned into a right evil man but when it was finished he was all right again.
“He said it was our secret and not to tell anyone.”
Beatings with belts and canes
After that, Charlie often tried to run away from St John Bosco’s but was always returned by police.
And he was usually punished for his attempts.
“They would give you a back-hander across the face. There would be a flash and you’d see stars,” he said.
Another former pupil, known as Dean, told the inquiry he was beaten up by priests who told him he was evil.
“You were told you were no good and would never be good,” he said.
“If you’re getting told constantly at a young age you’re evil, you start to believe it.”
Dean told of constant beatings with a belt, a wooden ruler and a cane.
And when he ran away, he told police he would rather kill himself than go back.
‘Who knows what I could have become’
Both men remained in the care system for several years, moving to different residential schools before ending up in prison.
And both became addicted to drugs or alcohol and still suffer nightmares.
Dean said his abuse at the Aberdour school meant he had no idea how to be a father when his son was born.
“I thought anybody giving me a cuddle was abusing me,” he said.
“He suffered because of that and it kills me when I think about it.
“These evil people knew what they were doing.
“It changed me as a person. Who knows what I could have become if I hadn’t been put into these places.”
Aberdour school staff member ‘deeply sorry’ for any abuse
Former school staff member Joseph said boys were given the belt if they absconded “to discourage others”.
“There was the occasional slap to a boy and the occasional slap on the bottom with a slipper,” he said.
Asked if he was aware of any kind of abuse at the Aberdour school, Joseph replied: “Physical I’ve mentioned, emotional…I don’t know what you’re referring to.
“And sexual, none at all.”
He added: “What I would say is, especially sexual, abusers are masters of hiding.
“That’s why I can’t say categorically.
“If there has been any affect on anybody that’s continuing to this day, we’re deeply sorry. We didn’t know about it.”
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