Court delay trauma for abuse victims

VICTIMS of sexual abuse regularly face traumatic waits of up to five years for trials, a support group for families and children warned yesterday.

The criticism of the legal system came in the wake of rape court case where the female victim said she regretted taking a case after having to wait seven years for a trial.

However, the CARI foundation, who provide therapy and support to victims of sexual abuse, commended the woman’s courage.

Kildare man Philip Gaynor was sentenced to eight years for attempted rape and indecent assault of the woman over 20 year ago. Mr Justice Paul Carney said Gaynor spent seven years fighting the case “trying to beat the rap”.

CARI said: “Mr Gaynor was able to manipulate the legal system to delay his case for seven years, which further traumatised his victim.”

The female victim on Thursday told the Central Criminal Court she spent 26 years feeling “dirty and soiled”, since the sexual abuse when she was a child.

She had reported her abuser to protect other children, the court heard. But Gaynor, 56, had taken the opportunity to “re-victimise” her further by employing legal ways to prevent the case going to trial.

“The experience of the victim in the Philip Gaynor case is the experience shared by many of CARI clients who were abused as children, who often wait up to five years for their case to be heard,” said CARI’s chief executive Mary Flaherty yesterday.

CARI want sex abuse cases fast-tracked, extra judges to clear a backlog of hearings and more resources to speed up cases in the Central Criminal Court.

Delays are furthered by waits of over a year for the Director of Public Prosecutions’ decision on prosecutions, the assignment of trial dates and rescheduling issues, insist CARI.

“These delays mean... the tiny proportion of child sexual abuse cases and rape and other sexual crime cases, that... make it as far as criminal proceedings, periods of many years can pass from the date of initial statement until the conclusion of the case,” the group added.

Bad law: a trial for innocents

Survivors’ words and those from mothers of victims who experienced the Legal System:

* “He was put sitting beside me on the same bench next to me at sentencing. I thought that was absolutely horrific.”

* “I vomited in the courtroom when I heard myself being called evil by his barrister.”

* “I’m still not coping with the way I was treated by the judicial system.”

* “He intimidated me for weeks before the trial. Eventually he had to be held.”

* “It took three-and-a-half years to get to court.