Call for referendum to protect children from sex offenders

YOUNG people are still not protected from sexual exploitation, the country’s leading rape crisis agency said yesterday.

Marking the first anniversary of the statutory rape crisis, Rape Crisis Network Ireland called for all political parties to commit to holding a child protection referendum as a priority before Christmas.

Across the country rape crisis centres marked the date with a host of events.

A demonstration was staged outside the GPO on O’Connell Street in Dublin.

Network executive director Fiona Neary said: “It is with regret that we find ourselves facing the first anniversary of the statutory rape crisis with the damage not reversed. Children and young people in Ireland are still exposed to a weakened defence against sexual predators. We call on politicians across the board to commit to a priority time frame for the holding of the constitutional referendum on child protection.

“We hope that the public, once given the opportunity by the Government in a referendum, will ensure that this is the last anniversary we have to mark.”

The statutory rape crisis shook the country when a number of convicted child sex offenders walked free from prison because of a loophole in the law.

The Supreme Court struck down Section 1 (1) of the 1935 Criminal Law (Amendment) Act when a case was brought by a young man who had consensual sex with a 14-year-old girl who told him she was 16. He was 18 at the time.

He argued the law was unconstitutional, because it was not open to him to claim he honestly believed she was older.

Among those freed was Mr A, a 41-year-old man jailed for unlawful carnal knowledge of a 12-year-old girl whom he plied with alcohol. The following day he was rearrested.

The case caused outrage across the State, with thousands protesting in cities and towns all over Ireland.

Within days, emergency legislation was rushed through the Dáil and signed into law.

The Sexual Offences Act 2006 restored the offence of statutory rape to the statute books. It also provides heavier penalties for sex offences committed by people in authority such as teachers or sports coaches.

The Network’s legal co-ordinator, Kate Mulkerrins, said: “This time last year the Supreme Court found that ‘strict liability’ in statutory rape legislation was unconstitutional.

“This law, which for 70 years had provided a ‘no excuses, no exceptions’ protection shielding the very young from sexual exploitation, was swept away.

“The resultant damage could not and was not fixed by the enactment of the emergency legislation [Sexual Offences Act 2006], as the Minister for Justice acknowledged it could not without the necessary constitutional change. We still await the necessary constitutional referendum.”

The network said figures show a 47.4% fall in reports of unlawful sex compared with the previous year.

Children and young people can also be subjected to the same type of savage adversarial cross-examination as adult rape complainants.

“We need to give children back the protection they deserve,” said Ms Mulkerrins. “We need to rebuild the zone of strict liability cloaking our young people in protection from predatory sexual attention. We start to do that by removing a ‘mistake’ as to age as a potential defence.”