A woman has told a court in Sligo that as a schoolgirl she used to have to read aloud at the top of the class while a nun indecently assaulted her.
The woman (45), one of seven to have made allegations against the nun, said she had always been slow at reading. She used to be called up to the teacher’s desk and as she read aloud, the nun would put her hand inside her clothes.
Sr Mary Teresa Grogan (62), also known as Sr Peter, has denied 63 counts of indecently assaulting seven schoolgirls when they were in third class in a primary school in the midlands . The offences are alleged to have taken place from 1973 to 1977.
On the fourth day of the trial at Sligo Circuit Court yesterday, the woman told a jury that the other children in the class were told to go to sleep and they would have their heads on the desk and were not allowed to look up when she was assaulted.
She said this happened two or three times a week.
The woman also said that she had also been indecently assaulted in the school library once when she said Sr Peter had pinned her against the wall and fondled her.
She told Aileen Donnelly SC, prosecuting, that she had blocked out a lot of what had happened.
The trial continues.