Crisis centre: Rape victims intimidated by courts

THE number of rape cases making it to court dropped by over a third last year because a growing number of victims are intimidated by the legal process, say rape crisis experts.

There were fresh calls last night for measures to help bring rape cases to court after figures showed a 37% drop trials going before a judge last year. Figures from the Courts Service Annual Report show 49 new cases came before the Central Criminal Court last year, the lowest annual total since 2005.

In all, 52 cases were disposed of in court last year, with guilty pleas entered in 18 cases. Another 25 cases went before a jury, with three life sentences imposed, along with five sentences of 12 years, and 13 sentences of between five and 12 years. There was an acquittal in 12 cases.