Belgian nuns accused of sexual abuse


Stella Maris orphanage

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Belgian says he was abused by nuns

Monday, January 3, 2011, 14:31

In Kortrijk, a man has complained to a Belgian court, as he says that in the nineteen sixties he was abused by nuns at the Stella Maris Orphanage.

The man says that ever after he became five years old, two sisters from the orphanage where he lived forced him to perform oral sex. Also, he sometimes had to sleep with the women. Later in life, the man got psychiatric problems because of that.

Usually reports of abuse are of abuse perpetrated by men.

Exceptional

The staff at Stella Maris are shocked and call for an investigation. They call on all possible victims to report.

The sisters were faced with the abuse accusations but did not want to respond. Accusations of clerical sexual abuse by women are exceptional.

The West-Flemish Youth Care, the current owner of the orphanage, says that they know about another case of abuse there. That is said to be about a man who during the nineteen nineties every now and then stopped by the institute.

See also here.

Sexual abuse of girls at Stella Maris: here.