Domestic violence conviction rate less than 10%

LESS than one in 10 incidents of domestic violence resulted in a conviction last year, garda figures show.

There were 651 convictions for domestic violence in 2002, compared to 1,286 in 2001, a drop of 49%, according to the Garda Annual Report.

The dramatic fall was recorded despite a rise in the number of reported incidents up from 9,983 in 2001 to 10,248 in 2002, an. That breaks down to on average of 28 incidents every day last year.

The Garda Annual Report 2002 shows:

there were 1,890 arrests for domestic violence in 2001, compared to 1,638 in 2002 a fall of 13%.

1,783 people were charged in 2001, compared to 1,370 in 2002 a fall of 23%.

Deputy Michael Ring, Fine Gael spokesman on family affairs, described the rise as very worrying. He also urged the Government not to sign legislation that would make it more difficult for victims of abuse to apply for rent allowance. Applicants will have to prove they have lived in rented accommodation for six months before being eligible.

"This legislation is an attack on those people who need emergency accommodation," the Mayo TD said.

The figures show that in 91% of cases the offenders were male. In the remaining 9% over 1,000 cases the offenders were female. Correspondingly, 92% of the complainants were women.

Two-thirds of the incidents occurred in Dublin. A full geographical breakdown shows there were:

1,108 incidents in the Eastern Region, 97 resulting in a conviction.

6,745 incidents in the Dublin Metropolitan region, 357 resulting in a conviction.

418 incidents in the Northern region, with 13 convictions.

497 incidents in the South Eastern region, with 40 convictions.

1,140 incidents in the Southern region, 113 resulting in convictions.

430 incidents in the Western region, with 31 convictions.

Last month, there were calls for Ireland to follow Britain's lead and equip gardaí attending domestic violence calls with Polaroid cameras.

Ivana Bacik, Reid Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin, said gardaí would immediately be able to record injuries and other evidence proving that a crime occurred thereby reducing the need to rely on witness statements.

Prof Bacik said that a large number of domestic violence cases fail because witnesses, mainly women, retract their statements or refuse to testify, in many cases because of intimidation.

She said some studies suggested that 46% of victims later withdraw complaints.