VICTIMS of child abuse will next month go to the highest court in Scotland to challenge a law that bars them from getting compensation.
The Court of Session is to hear three test cases from people who claim they were either physically, sexually or emotionally tortured at a council-run home for troubled youngsters.
The two women and a man, all former pupils at the scandal-hi
t Kerelaw residential school, are each asking for about £50,000 in compensation for what they say amounts to years of abuse and cruelty.
Their claims, however, have been blocked as they failed to take legal action within three years of the alleged incidents. The Court of Session judge will have to decide whether to accept the time bar on the cases or not. If he decides to allow the cases to go ahead, some experts expect the floodgates to open.
Cameron Fyfe, the lawyer for the three individuals, yesterday said: "I am acting for 18 clients who allege that they were abused in Kerelaw. These three cases, which come before the court on October 7, can be regarded as test cases. If we can persuade the court that they are not time-barred, then there is a good prospect that all the clients will eventually receive compensation."
Kerelaw was owned and run by Glasgow City Council until its closure in 2006 after what was widely believed to be the biggest investigation into allegations of child sex abuse ever carried out in Scotland.
The council last year said it believed up to 40 staff at Kerelaw had been directly involved in physical or sexual abuse and that others had known or suspected of the abuse, but failed to do anything about it.
Only two workers, however, have been successfully prosecuted and the Crown Office is not expected to take any further action against others.
The local authority, facing a substantial financial loss, has rejected claims for compensation, citing the time bar. Fyfe yesterday said: "The clients feel that Glasgow City Council are trying to knock out their claims purely on a technicality."
Several previous cases, including those for clients of Fyfe, have failed to get through the courts because of the time bar. These, however, related to far more historic allegations. The new cases date from the 1990s.
The time bar was designed to prevent 'prejudice' against those accused of harm. In other words, it would be hard for an institution to defend itself over something that happened so long ago that memories were lost or witnesses dead. Fyfe believes it would be hard for Glasgow City Council to make such a defence in the three cases as it was most rigorous in investigating the abuse.
Several other major institutions will be watching the Kerelaw case. Any weakening of the time bar could act as a major incentive for further claims against other bodies.
Many former employees at Kerelaw believe that criminal allegations have been prompted by the desire by some ex-pupils to make money through compensation. They are highly critical of the way police 'trawled' for potential victims and witnesses, managers at the school were suspended and the abuse investigation begun in June 2004.
One of the three former pupils to go before the Court of Session next month is Michelle Wright, 27, who spent some years at Kerelaw in the 1990s.
She has waived her right to anonymity and only took a civil action against the council after she was approached by police officers investigating claims.
Wright, who was sent to the school for persistent truancy, says she was regularly beaten and also claims she was used by staff to mete out punishments on other youngsters.
"I still feel really guilty about that," she said yesterday.
"I feel guilty about fighting people for no reason, just for privileges or cigarettes from the staff. Cruelty is not the word, bad is not the word. And I was one of the lucky ones. You wouldn't wish some of the things I saw on your worst enemy."
The full article contains 681 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
