Collapse halts sex-abuse case

Wellington, New Zealand --

A woman suing the Catholic church over alleged physical and sexual abuse collapsed in the witness box at the High Court in Wellington yesterday halting the hearing.

Earlier the woman hurled a folder of documents toward a lawyer and screamed, swore and cried under questioning.

The respondents' lawyer had been questioning her about her alleged rape by a male member of a foster family approved by the church, she had stayed with in the mid-1970s.

The woman began screaming when asked when and where she stayed with the family,

She yelled: "Jesus ... I'm not an animal".

Justice Marion Frater adjourned the court for a few minutes after the woman jumped off her seat and threw a folder.

When court resumed, the woman said: "I am sorry for being a naughty girl ... I'm trying to be a good girl."

She went on to describe how she was allegedly raped by the male after a Sunday group meeting at a church.

A short time later the woman collapsed in the witness box prompting the judge to again adjourn the hearing.

On Monday, the woman broke down in court when asked to describe how she was allegedly made to perform oral sex on a priest.

She said she was about eight years old when it happened at St Joseph's Orphanage in Upper Hutt, where she lived between 1968 and 1973.

Read the article at The New Zealand Herald Dated August 2, 2005

Search the web for this article