Fornethy House: Woman 'force-fed and beat girl' at former residential school, court hears

A woman has recalled being made to feel “like a rag doll” and also being force-fed when she was a girl at a former residential school.

The alleged victim told the High Court in Glasgow: “I just wanted to curl up like a wee baby. I still do not understand how an adult could be like that.”

The now 56-year-old’s pre-recorded testimony was played on the first day of the trial of Patricia Robertson.

The 77-year-old faces a total of 25 charges said to have occurred at Fornethy House in Angus between 1967 and 1983.

The indictment lists a string of allegations of “cruel and unnatural” treatment of girls, including accusations of physical violence.

It is claimed Robertson was responsible for their “care and protection” at Fornethy.

The pensioner, of Witham in Essex, denies the accusations.

The witness told how she believed she ended up at Fornethy twice following an arrangement between her own school, her local council and her family.

She did not recall being taught regular subjects – such as English and maths.

Glasgow City Council has apologised to the girls abused at Fornethy House STV News

Instead, the woman spoke of playing games and tasks such as going for long walks and flower pressing.

The witness went on to recall a “Miss Robertson”, who she believed was a teacher.

She then claimed in her evidence that she was force-fed semolina, which she had been struggling to swallow.

The woman: “I remember Robertson was over at the other table, and she came over to me shouting and bawling.

“She was saying: ‘You need to eat. It is good for you’.

“I was like: ‘I do not like it’. The next minute, I got my hair pulled back, and the spoon was put down my throat.

“She just would not let go.”

The then girl was allegedly made to stand in a corner of the room facing away from others.

Asked how she felt, the witness said: “Alone, embarrassed. I just wanted to go home.

“What did I do wrong?”

She claimed this sort of thing happened more than once, also when she refused to eat blancmange.

The witness said: “It is sick. You just do not do that.”

The woman alleged she was also hit during her latter stay at Fornethy while helping scrub floors.

She said the staff member she knew as Robertson commented she had “missed a bit” and the then girl “tutted”.

The witness alleged that an item of her clothing was grabbed tightly, and she struggled to breathe.

She claimed she was pulled back and forward “like a rag doll” before ending up on the floor on her knees.

The woman recalled: “I just wanted my mum.” She said she got beaten for “trying to do a good job”.

The witness further alleged she was made to go on a long walk despite stating at one stage she was injured. The woman claimed she was spoken to “as if she was nothing”.

Under cross-examination, Mark Stewart KC put it to the woman if she was sure these things happened.

She stated she was.

The advocate said: “One explanation may be they did not happen the way that you said and that your evidence is exaggerated, created. Do you understand?”

The woman said: “No because I know what happened to me.”

Among the other girls listed, one is said to have been ridiculed as well as forced to stand in a confined and dark space for a “prolonged period”.

Prosecutors claim another had a postcard written for her mum ripped up and then she was slapped on the face.

It is alleged one girl had derogatory remarks made to her, she had food forced into her mouth, had a shoe and blackboard duster hurled at her as well as being dragged by the hair.

Robertson is also said to have got other children to “sing a song with degrading lyrics” towards another of the youngsters.

It is claimed she refused to free a further girl from a locked box and shouted at her.

The trial, before judge Lord Colbeck, continues.