Former nun's assault trial awaits verdict

CBC News/October 15, 2002

Charlottetown -- Closing arguments were made Tuesday in the assault trial of a former nun who used a wooden paddle to discipline children at a P.E.I. religious commune. The defence argued that Lucille Poulin, 78, raised the children to be good Christians and she had the right to practise her religion.

The Crown says religious rights don't translate into the right to assault children. Crown attorney Darryl Coombs told the court the children were beaten without reason and were subjected to pain and abuse.

"How can there be a corrective purpose when the children weren't told what they did wrong?" Coombs told the court.

"Bruises hurt, but emotional scars remain."

Poulin has never denied hitting five children who were removed from the Hazel Grove, P.E.I., commune she ran.

But she says she used "the rod" because God told her to and stressed that the Bible gives her the right to strike children.

The children testified they were beaten sometimes for wanting more food or for sleeping in. Some testified they passed out from the pain.

Several adults who live at the commune testified the children lied.

A verdict is scheduled for Oct. 25