A man residing in the UK is pursuing a civil lawsuit against the Sisters of Nazareth, alleging that he was sexually abused as a child while living in an orphanage they operated in Gqeberha, reports The Herald.

The 55-year-old man, who declined to be named, for four years in the late 1970s and early 80s, lived at Nazareth House, which today focuses on care for the elderly and frail.

He alleges he was repeatedly abused by a trainee teacher who lived on the property at that time. 

The British law firm that has taken on his case says it appears the man was one of a number of children who suffered similar harm at Nazareth House Port Elizabeth during that time, and has asked for any witnesses or complainants to come forward.

Speaking telephonically from England, the man said he had gone through years of torment before coming to terms with what had happened.

‘I went from being a good student to failing grade eight,’ he said. 

‘From the age of 16, for 20 years, I self-medicated and eventually became a drug addict. I couldn't tell anyone about what this teacher did to me. After school, in my early 20s, I reported what had happened at the Motherwell police station but nothing came of it.'

Nazareth House was established in then-Port Elizabeth in 1889 by the Sisters of Nazareth, a Catholic order of nuns.

The founding objective was to care for indigent elderly adults and orphaned children. When the man arrived at Nazareth House in 1978 with his brother and sister, the facility was being run as an orphanage.

‘We were not orphans, but our parents had separated and we somehow landed up there. I was there from the age of nine until I was 13,’ said the man.

He said the man who allegedly abused him was a trainee teacher who used to help out at various schools around the city, and at the orphanage. 

Leigh Day associate solicitor Dena Latif confirmed yesterday that the firm was pursuing a civil claim against the Sisters of Nazareth for the alleged abuse their client had suffered under their care.

She said the claim would likely proceed in the English courts against the UK-based Congregation of the Sisters of Nazareth Generalate, that was responsible for Nazareth House in Gqeberha.

‘This is a civil claim being brought in relation to their responsibility to provide a duty of care to our client while he was a resident at their home.' 

The Herald notes that in 2022, in another case pursued by Leigh Day, a woman was awarded £75 000 (R1.8m) by the Sisters of Nazareth, which was responsible for running a Nazareth House Children’s Home in Nottingham.

The settlement related to the abuse she suffered as a child at the home in the 1970s and 1980s.

Nazareth House in Gqeberha has not yet responded.

Full report in The Herald