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Ireland is worst for sex crime prosecutions A new report
has revealed that Ireland has the worst record in Europe for successfully
prosecuting people accused of sex crimes.
The figures were compiled by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) as it
emerged fewer than one in 10 sexual assault cases are reported to gardaí.
The study, which was commissioned by the Rape Crisis Network in Ireland
(RCNI), also showed more than one woman is raped in Dublin every day.
RCNI legal co-ordinator Kate Mulkerrins said a range of failures in the
legal system was to blame for the low number of cases being brought by
victims.
She said: “The average rape case takes 118 weeks from someone
being charged to getting a case to trial and that’s on top of the
time between reporting a crime and a charge.”
“That’s double the time of a similar case in Britain.”
“We take far too long, we don’t support people enough in the
system and essentially we leave people in the dark.”
She called for gardaí to be trained specifically to deal with sexual
violence and said that dedicated units needed to be set-up in each region
of the country.
Currently many victims are often being asked to put their lives on hold
for many years as some cases are taking up to four years to go through
the court system.
DRCC’s Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop said the amount of people attending
the unit peaks every July, August and over the Christmas period.
She said the centre’s figures show one person attended the unit
every day last year, which is an increase of 20 per cent on the previous
year.
She said: “Although more people are coming forward, we also know
that only between 8 per cent and 10 per cent of people who call us report
a rape or sexual assault.”
Last year the Courts Service recorded that 61 rape and sexual assault
cases were dealt with at the Central Criminal Court, with six in 10 rapists
pleading guilty to the charge.
Of the total figure, 27 were convicted of rape, with one man handed a
life sentence.
A further 14 men were convicted of sexual assault, eight were acquitted,
while 12 cases fell in to the ‘other’ category.
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