'I stupidly put my faith in our legal system': Councillor shares sexual assault story
In the wake of Josepha Madigan's revelation that she had suffered sexual assault, councillor Deirdre Donnelly told Katie Hannon on 'Liveline' on RTÉ Radio 1 that she too had been the victim of a sexual assault.
Minister Josepha Madigan's powerful speech in the Dáil, in which she said she herself had survived sexual assault, has prompted another politician to speak publicly about her experience of sexual abuse and criticise a justice system "that is not fit for purpose".
“I'm old enough to know that there are very few women my age who have not been subjected to some form of sexual assault in their respective lifetimes and I know this because I am one of them,” the Minister of State with responsibility for Special Education and Inclusion said during a discussion on sexual, domestic, and gender-based violence.
The seminal speech has already been described as a watershed #MeToo moment tackling damaging attitudes to sexual abuse in Ireland.
Independent councillor in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Deirdre Donnelly, revealed on RTÉ Radio 1's today that she too had been the victim of a sexual assault.
While attending an event at an unnamed hotel, Ms Donnelly was harassed and groped by a man who she repeatedly moved away from and even shouted “stop” at in the busy function.
"He was rubbing himself up against me. It was in a bar in full view of people, but nobody seemed to notice,” she said.
“I don’t think people realise what it’s like to be in a crowd and someone doing something to you and you don’t know whether to scream, no one seems to know it’s happening to you, while there are people around. And that is a frightening situation to be in," she told presenter Katie Hannon.
His presence was so unwelcome that she left the event early but he then followed her to her hotel room.
She was so frightened that she ran to her hotel room to try to escape, but stumbled, causing permanent damage to her already injured knee.
She said that she did not realise, until she subsequently studied law, that his behaviour that night was illegal.
But after she complained about his behaviour, she said that she sadly learned that the criminal justice system is not designed to adequately support or protect victims of sexual abuse and is desperately in need of serious reform.
“We have a justice system in this country that is not fit for purpose. I don't think people realise how bad it is,” she said.
The day after she was abused, Ms Donnelly asked the hotel for CCTV footage from the previous night. She also made a complaint in the hotel and to their HR contact. But she felt completely unsupported, she said.
She went to the gardaí, but never received a copy of her statement, and received nothing about her complaint. This went on for 22 months when she was told there wasn't enough information for a prosecution.
"I stupidly put my faith in our legal system,” she said.
Ms Madigan told the Dáil on Tuesday that violence against women is a “corrosive blight on female safety and morale”.
"It was, and is, a lot more common than many believe," she said.
“I always take statistics that I read with a pinch of salt.
"Most victims do not report their crimes. There are many reasons for this — shame, fear of judgement, and a desire to forget are among the reasons and it shouldn’t be this way.
"The scary part about sexual assault in particular, is that it is not always the random monster in the middle of the night, but often a friend, or a spouse or an acquaintance or someone you know. It is a corrosive blight on female safety and morale."
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