Increase in reporting of rape by a stranger

MORE people are reporting rape or sexual assault committed by a stranger or someone they just met, while a growing number of victims are also suffering physical violence, psychological abuse and intimidation.

Latest statistics released by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) show 51% of victims were raped or sexually assaulted by people not known to them, a 14% increase in the five-year period since 2003.

The centre’s 2008 report also shows 38% of people endured physical violence, psychological abuse and intimidation in addition to rape and sexual abuse – up 5% on 2007 figures.

DRCC chief executive, Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop, said 284 victims of rape and sexual assault were accompanied to a hospital-based treatment unit last year, the third-highest number to date and an 80% increase since 2001.

Ms O’Malley-Dunlop described the increase in the number of victims preyed upon by strangers as worrying.

“A stranger is someone you could have just met, not someone who jumps out of a bush,” she said.

“It is somebody who is, in the extended context of a party, a person not known to the victim 24 hours before the attack.

“Men and women should not get separated from their group on a night out – nominate a designated minder,” she stressed.

DRCC chairman, Brendan Spring, said the statistics made grim reading.

“I found it most disturbing that 38% of our clients in 2008 told their therapists that, in addition to sexual violence, they had experienced various other types of abuse, including physical violence, attempts to kill and torture,” he said.

The report shows victims are more willing to report recent rape or sexual assault by people known to them, contrary to previous trends. Last year, 44% of clients who experienced recent rape or sexual assault by someone known to them reported it to the gardaí, compared to 40% of those raped by a stranger.