A former nun found guilty last night of raping a then 10-year-old girl in a child care centre in Co Waterford subsequently worked in a hostel for women and children in Dublin and in a Romanian orphanage, The Irish Times has learned.
She was able to use an enthusiastic reference from a South Eastern Health Board official to support a successful application for a job as manager of a St Vincent de Paul hostel in Dublin. The Order of Mercy last night said it was "devastated" at what had happened. Nora Wall (51), formerly Sister Dominic, and her co-accused, Paul "Pablo" McCabe (50), were found guilty by a jury of raping the girl at St Michael's Child Care Centre - managed by the Sisters of Mercy - in Cappoquin, Co Waterford, on a date unknown in 1987-88. Mr Justice Carney at the Central Criminal Court remanded them on continuing bail for sentence on July 23rd next. Wall, from Co Waterford, was directress of the home at Cappoquin.
In an unusually strong statement, the Mercy Order last night said: "We are all devastated by the revolting crimes which resulted in these verdicts. Our hearts go out to this young woman who, as a child, was placed in our care. Her courage in coming forward was heroic. We beg anyone who was abused whilst in our care to go to the gardai."
A spokeswoman for the South Eastern Health Board - which places children in care in Cappoquin - said she was not in a position to comment and did not know whether the board would comment today. Mr Owen Keenan, chief executive of Barnardos child care agency, said last night it was never safe to assume that this kind of abuse had been eliminated from the care system. Those charged with monitoring the system had to be very vigilant and "have to be prepared to consider the most awful things," he said.
During the seven-day trial, the court heard evidence from the now 21-year old victim who described how she was raped in her bed in the home by McCabe while Sister Dominic held down her legs and ankles. As directress of St Michael's, Sister Dominic occupied an important position in residential child care in the south-east. The Waterford institute has confirmed that she supervised child care students sent to St Michael's from the then Waterford Regional Technical College.
After leaving St Michael's, she worked for a time at the Negru Voda orphanage in Romania as part of a North/South project, for which she received a glowing reference. She did voluntary work, including staying overnight, at the Regina Coeli hostel for women and children run by the Legion of Mary in Dublin in the second half of the 1990s. She subsequently became manager of the St Vincent de Paul hostel for men in Back Lane, Dublin. A reference from a South Eastern Health Board official, which she used to support her application for this job, described her as "exceptionally kind and considerate with an outstanding character."