25% of sex cases dropped without reason

One in four prosecutions for rape and serious sexual offences were dropped with no explanation last year, according to court figures.

This has prompted rape crisis groups to call for clarity as to why such cases are pulled without reason — saying the decision had a “huge effect” on victims.

The Courts Service Annual Report 2013 shows:

n1,490 rape and serious sexual assaults were dealt with by the Central Criminal Court;

nA nolle prosequi (no prosecution) was entered in a total of 376 cases — 25% of all offences;

nThe 1,490 cases included 567 rape offences and 923 serious sexual assaults. A nolle prosequi was entered in 19% of rapes and 29% of serious sexual assaults.

“We would like to have a breakdown of reasons for all of the nolle prosequis — which are stays on proceedings for various unidentified reasons,” said Cliona Saidlear of Rape Crisis Network Ireland.

“It has a huge effect on victims. They have to put their lives on hold for the trials, say two years, and then at the 11th hour, it is pulled and they don’t get an explanation.”

Ms Saidlear said it would be very useful from both a public policy and a victim support perspective to have this information, in terms of “improving the system and reassuring all involved”.

Nolle prosequis are entered by the prosecution, acting on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and no reasons are given in court.

Ms Saidlear said the issue was also relevant in the Circuit Criminal Court, where other sexual offences are heard. The annual report said, of 691 offences, some 137 (20%) were pulled.

In relation to convictions, the statistics are harder to interpret. The figures for the Central Criminal Court indicate that just 325 (22%) of the 1,490 offences involved either a guilty plea or ended in a conviction after a trial.

However, a further 398 offences were “taken into consideration”. This is where an offender is sentenced on other multiple offences and this offence is taken into account. If this category is included, it would bring the overall guilty rate to 51%.

Ms Saidlear said such a high rate of offences taken into consideration indicates that a lot of cases involve multiple rape, mostly likely historic child sexual violence. She said the acquittal rate — 20% of all offences — in the Central Criminal Court was not “particularly discouraging”.

In the Circuit Court, just under half of cases involved either a guilty plea or a conviction after trial.

The UN Human Rights Committee this week said it was concerned that sexual and domestic violence against women remained a “serious problem” in Ireland. It expressed concern at the “lack of a comprehensive data collection system on violence against women” and called for measures to address the problem.

It also raised the issue of prosecution and sentencing of child abusers, with just 10 of 181 child abuse cases being prosecuted. One perpetrator got a two-year jail term with 18 months suspended despite being found guilty of 14 counts of indecent assault against a child.

* Rape Crisis Helpline 1800 77 88 88