Victims of crime must be listened to, say gardaí

VICTIMS of crime, such as the sisters and fiancé of murdered Belfast man Robert McCartney, should no longer be treated as bystanders, gardaí said yesterday.

Officers said that if the State failed these victims, it could not hold its head up, and that the law of the jungle would prevail.

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) said it was now “almost impossible” to convict someone in the higher courts such was the bias towards the accused.

AGSI president Joe Dirwan said people like the sisters and fiancé of Robert McCartney and the widow of Garda Jerry McCabe, both killed by IRA members, should be listened to.

“They cannot be treated as spectators and denied their proper role. They have made their wishes plain - they wish to see justice for the killing of their husband and their brother.

“If we fail them, then we cannot hold our heads up and call ourselves a civilised society and the law of the jungle will prevail.”

Speaking at the AGSI annual conference attended last night by the Minister for Justice, Mr Dirwan said Michael McDowell was correct in saying the balance of rights had shifted too far in favour of the accused.

“Owing to the continuous development of our courts, it is now almost impossible to obtain a conviction of any kind in the higher courts, such is the macro levels of evidence required and the legal technicalities which abound.”

He said this had been highlighted in recent court verdicts.

“This is to the detriment of the victims of crime who must sit in the courts, in many cases only a few feet away from the accused, and then see them go free for what must seem to them to be an absurd technicality.”

He said the Victim’s Charter, set up in 1999, is still largely ignored.

Mr Dirwan said victims should be able to track the progress of their cases on the internet and that gardaí should notify them of the release of prisoners involved in their cases.