Drink ‘clouds city rape trials’

MOST Limerick rape trials fail to secure convictions due to the alarming amount of alcohol consumed by those involved, a leading lawyer claimed yesterday.

Limerick juries have returned guilty verdicts in all 13 trials held in the Central Criminal Courts sitting in the city, which involved violent death, but Court Service figures show that only one conviction has been secured in the six rape trials held in the city.

A leading barrister who specialises in criminal law, who asked not to be named, said: “In many cases where rape is alleged there has been an alarming level of alcohol taken by the parties. And unless there is some corroborative evidence such as bruising or torn clothes, Limerick juries are very slow to bring in a guilty verdict in rape trials.”

However, the Rape Crisis Centre has rejected this claim. Breda Allen of RCC said: “If a woman is drunk she is not in a position to give consent.”

Meanwhile, the failure of the Department of Justice to consider imposing mandatory minimum sentences for sexual offences has been strongly criticised by an independent councillor in Waterford city.

Councillor Mary Roche, who last month led a motion calling on Justice Minister McDowell to introduce a minimum eight-year sentence for rape, has claimed the legislature is driven by a “lack of understanding” of the real effects of sexual crime.

In a written response from Mr McDowell’s office, the Department of Justice made it clear the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences was not under active consideration.