Time-lag ‘mental torture’ for rape victims

THE State is inflicting “mental torture” on rape victims due to widespread delays in bringing cases to court, support groups have warned.

As the National Crime Council issued an in-depth probe into the time-lag between an arrest in a rape or murder investigation and a subsequent trial, the anguish endured by victims and their families was highlighted by campaigners.

Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s (DRCC) clinical services head Angela McCarthy said delays of a year or more were common and women received little official support or guidance during the wait.

“The level of delay is very distressing for clients and amounts to mental torture really,” she said.

“The length of time taken means they can have made a lot of progress with counselling and then they have to relive everything again in court.

“It can come like a bolt from the blue as there is a real lack of liaison for them. They are not really kept informed of what is happening, or why the delays are occurring and then told the court case is finally happening. It is especially distressing when the defence team will deliberately try and bring about delays to help their case.

“The Government needs to act to ensure cases go to court as quickly as possible and that proper support is given along the way,” she said.

The National Crime Council’s study is the first of its kind and examined 300 murder and rape cases disposed of by the Central Criminal Court between 2002 and 2004.

The DRCC revealed it received a record 16,331 calls in 2005, an increase of 2,000 on 2004.

A test sample of 335 cases found that just five went to court and four ended in a conviction.