Big rise in sex assault calls during December

THE two Saturdays during Christmas each saw eight victims of sexual assault treated at the specialist unit in the Rotunda Hospital — including one person who had to make a 10-hour return trip from Donegal.

These two nights accounted for more than half of the 30 incidents that required the involvement of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre in December.

During Christmas week its national helpline took 48 crisis calls, with 12 being first-time reported incidents of rape.

Traditionally a busy time, the capital’s rape crisis centre launched an awareness campaign with director Ellen O’Malley Dunlop saying this was particularly important because of a noticeable rise in reports of rape by a stranger.

“I do not want to be scare-mongering, but with this in mind you have to warn people to be careful,” she said.

“We are asking people to look out for one another and to keep their own safety in mind at all times.”

In Galway, the city’s rape crisis centre had 11 people contact its service for the first time in December — 10% of its annual figure.

There were a total of 119 calls to its helpline during the month.

In both Cork and Wexford the number of contacts did not spike in the usual manner.

The Sexual Violence Centre in Cork had 12 calls during Christmas week.

In Wexford, its freephone helpline, which is constantly manned, had no callers.

However, the director of the Cork service Mary Crilly and the manager of the Wexford centre Liz McBride both stressed this did not mean there were no incidents.

“When somebody experiences a trauma like this, very often they report to a local hospital, doctor or local gardaí and it can take some time before they make contact with a service like ourselves,” said Ms McBride.

In Cork Ms Crilly said Christmas was not busy but she did not assume this meant a drop in the number of attacks.

“I will not say the figures were large when they were not, but the nature of this type of crime is that many people will not decide to report the crime until sometime afterwards,” she said.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s 24-hour National Helpline is 1800 778888.

Victims in Cork can contact the Sexual Violence Centre on 1800 496496.

The Wexford Rape Crisis Centre number is 1800 330033.

Galway’s centre can be reached at 1850 355 355.