Police in Scotland have received more than 300 complaints of alleged abuses over a 50 year period at children's homes run by a Catholic congregation, an inquiry has heard.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard that officers have received 308 complaints about 194 people associated with institutions run by the Sisters of Nazareth from the 1930s to 1980s.

The figure emerged as witnesses recounted a number of incidents of abuse they said they suffered at the order's home in Aberdeen around the 1940s and 1950s.

Read more: Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry to focus on Cardonald children’s home

They included claims of beatings at the hands of nuns, force-feeding to the point of vomiting, being locked in a dark cupboard as punishment and being made to bathe in water containing household disinfectant.

Children were also told that nobody wanted them, the inquiry heard, while one witness said she was told "the devil was inside me" as a nun hit her.

"The psychological damage I saw people suffering ... it's unbelievable," another witness told the hearing in Edinburgh.

The inquiry has begun hearing evidence about homes run by the order in four locations - Aberdeen, Cardonald (or Glasgow), Lasswade near Edinburgh and Kilmarnock in Ayrshire - which ceased operating as homes for children in the 1980s.

Read more: Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry to focus on Cardonald children’s home

In opening remarks, Laura-Anne van der Westhuizen, representing Police Scotland, told chair Lady Smith: "Since 1995, police investigations have been undertaken in relation to reported abuse dating back to the 1930s within the Sisters of Nazareth institutions.

"Police Scotland has recovered records of complaints received from 308 former residents against 194 persons associated with children's residences within Nazareth House institutions ... between 1934 and 1984.

"To date, 58 files concerning Sister of Nazareth institutions have been provided to the inquiry."

Read more: Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry to focus on Cardonald children’s home

The first witness to give evidence during the new phase told the inquiry how nuns at Nazareth House in Aberdeen would nip her skin, hit the children and make them play outside with no shoes on.

"We were never loved, ever, by any of them," she said.

The woman now in her 70s, who cannot be named, was at the Aberdeen home in the 1940s and 1950s.

She said she rarely saw her siblings and did not know her surname until she was 12 years old.

The witness told how one nun would make misbehaving children get down on their knees in front of her and she would bang their heads together.

She also recounted having to dust coffins which she believed contained the bodies of nuns and smelt of "death".

"You can't forget that smell," she said.

A statement from a second witness, who was unable to attend the inquiry, said life at Nazareth House was "unbelievable" and "the neglect was terrible".

In the statement, read by a legal representative, she recounted being sick when forced to drink digestive salts and said she still has lumps on her skull from being hit.

"I remember (a nun) saying that the devil was inside me as she hit me," the statement said.

Read more: Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry to focus on Cardonald children’s home

"While one nun was hitting me, she said that my parents didn't want me and it was no wonder."

And she claimed that children were made to laugh at youngsters who wet the bed.

"The nuns expected it, it was so humiliating for those girls," she said.

Another witness, Jim Buckley, 72, who was at the Aberdeen institution in the 1950s and waived his right to anonymity, told how he was locked in a dark cupboard at the age of 14 as a punishment after getting "a doing" for pushing a nun.

Mr Buckley told Lady Smith: "Physical punishment you can get over, the psychological damage can live with you your whole life."

He added: "The psychological damage I saw people suffering... it's unbelievable."

Earlier in the day, a statement read on behalf of John Scott QC, representing the group In Care Abuse Survivors (INCAS), said: "What is now expected by the inquiry and demanded by survivors is serious reflection, proper acknowledgement, sincere apology and meaningful accountability.

"Survivors want religious congregations and orders to accept responsibility."

Read more: Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry to focus on Cardonald children’s home

Mark Lindsay, solicitor for the Sisters of Nazareth, earlier repeated an "unreserved" apology to anyone abused in the congregation's care.

The inquiry continues on Wednesday.