A north-east foster couple has been accused of physically abusing five children in their care over a 24-year period.
Sandra and Andrew Harper, both 61, are facing 13 charges that they assaulted their foster children at their home in Cairnbulg, Fraserburgh, when the kids were between three and 18 years old.
The couple’s five accusers, three boys and two girls, claim the Harpers physically assaulted them, degraded them and verbally abused them between 1985 and 2009.
In one charge, Sandra Harper is accused of repeatedly forcing a girl to eat her own vomit when she was a child.
It is also alleged that Andrew Harper held a lit cigarette against the body of another girl when she was between four and 10 years old.
All of the accusers are now adults.
Couple deny all the charges
Three of the accusers claim they were between three and five years old when the alleged abuse took place – with it coming to an end when they turned 18.
Two other children say they were 10 when the alleged physical abuse stopped.
Sandra and Andrew Harper deny all the charges against them.
One charge claims a girl was thrown across a room, before being dragged across the floor where Sandra Harper allegedly poured liquid soap into her mouth.
Another boy’s face was allegedly rubbed in urine-soaked bedding by Sandra Harper before she pushed him and caused him to hit his head on a wardrobe.
The 61-year-old is then accused of punching the boy repeatedly to the head and body.
It is also claimed that on various occasions between December 2003 and December 2009, Andrew Harper refused to let a young girl go to the toilet causing her to wet herself.
The charges allege that he then shouted and swore at her while throwing items of clothing at her as he watched her shower.
Accusations against the couple also allege they assaulted and pulled a male foster child from a vehicle and grabbed another boy by the neck and pulled him from his bed.
The youngest foster child, who features in four of the charges, claims she was routinely shouted at in an aggressive manner, physically assaulted, lunged at and seized by her clothing and pulled off the ground.
The Harpers are also accused of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards a now 37-year-old accuser at a Tesco store in Fraserburgh in 2019.
The couple’s solicitors John McLeod and Stuart Flowerdew entered not guilty pleas to all charges on their behalf at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Sheriff William Summers continued the case until later next month.
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