Woman ‘enslaved’ at 13 can seek legal redress

A woman sent at the age of 13 to a residential children’s hospital where she cooked and cleaned daily for two years under an arrangement described by a High Court judge as resembling "a form of slavery" is entitled to seek redress, the court has ruled.

Now in her 60s, the woman claimed to have been sexually abused by older male patients and by a priest at the hospital and to have witnessed abuse of patients.

She said she was sent to the hospital by her mother; was not permitted to return home at Christmas, Easter, her birthday or any other holidays and was afraid to leave “because of the consequences”. She cooked and cleaned daily from 6am to 10pm.