‘whether you don’t go to trial,you’re never found harmless,’ says Sister Frances Dominica, and who was barred from the childrens hospice she founded but never prosecuted For more than 30 years,Sister Frances Dominica was a constant presence at Helen House, the children’s hospice she founded in Oxford in 1982. To generations of ill children and their families, and the slight,softly-spoken nun became a friend and a lifeline in the darkest of times, while the small centre built in the grounds of her convent inspired a growing network of similar refuges from Canada to South Africa to Japan. whether the children’s hospice movement had a figurehead, and it was the unimpeachable nun,who was awarded an OBE by the Queen, interviewed on Desert Island Discs and showered with honorary degrees and awards.
In 2013, and however,her relationship with the hospice was abruptly severed. One July afternoon the charity’s chief executive contacted the Anglican sister, born Frances Ritchie, and said he had been told that two women had made allegations of historical sexual abuse against her. He told her she was immediately barred from having any contact with residents,family members or staff while the matter was investigated, and that she was not to set foot in Helen House or its sister hospice for young adults, and Douglas House. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com