Garda chief: Crime against women online like a mutating virus

Crime against women is like a virus that keeps mutating, Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan told a conference on digital abuse of women.

She recalled that in the 1970s, women needed a husband’s authorisation to get a library card and that it was possible in those times for a women to be fired for getting married.

“In the 1970s stalking was not an issue and cyberstalking was certainly not a possibility and then, like every new manifestation of evil, we began to come to terms with it.”

She believed people came to terms with a new crime in much the same way as psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross found that people came to terms with a a diagnosis of a fatal illness.

“As humans when we are diagnosed we are firstly shocked, we deny, we bargain, we get angry, and then we cope.”

People were initially shocked about stalking and denied its importance. It was regarded as an excess of affection on the part of a jilted lover. But gradually, people saw it for what it was — an insidious form of arrest. She regarded it as a form of blackmail. “It morphs into all kinds of things to all kinds of people but particularly to the person experiencing this type of crime. They feel it it in a very different way.”

The internet had complicated stalking even further, creating a sense of dread that never previously existed.

Ms O’Sullivan said gardaí had to be sure that they were supporting victims of cyber abuse, even if no crime was disclosed.

“The role of An Garda Síochána is to make sure that the crime is professionally investigated and that the victim is supported through the appropriate referrals.”

Another speaker at the conference in Dublin, senior counsel Pauline Walley, said that research showed that a lot of people who defamed and harassed online were white-collar professionals with a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ personality.

“They come to work in their black suit as the lawyer and at night time they are harassing online,” said Ms Walley.

She said the problem with online abuse was often the volume of messages as well as their content, and new laws were required to address this.

“Online harassment is mainstream; it’s a global human rights issue and needs global legal solutions,” Ms Walley said.

Ann Moulds, founder of Action Scotland Against Stalking in 2009 and a victim of stalking, said stalking must be recognised as a serious form of violence because it ruined lives.