Nearly 90% of sexual violence victims in Cork knew their perpetrator's identity
Of those who contacted the Sexual Violence Centre in Cork for help in 2020, 90.3% were female. File Picture
That is among the findings of the centre’s annual report for 2020, released this afternoon. Of the people who contacted SVCC in 2020, 90.3% were female.
More than two-thirds of those who came forward did not report what had happened to them to gardaí.
Almost three-quarters (73.6%) of SVCC’s clients last year were adult sexual assault survivors, while nearly 1 in 5 (18.9%) was an adult survivor of child sexual abuse. 5.7% were survivors of child sexual abuse and were under the age of 18 when they contacted SVCC.
Nearly 28% of all sexual assaults the centre dealt with last year took place in the victim's own house, while 23% took place in the perpetrator's house. 17.5% occurred outdoors.
In terms of the age of the SVCC’s clients last year, 29.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24.
- 14.6% were aged between 26 and 29;
- 19.8% were aged between 30 and 39;
- 18.10% were between the ages of 40 and 49;
- 5.6% were between the ages of 50 and 59;
- 4.2% were aged between 60 and 69;
- And .7% were aged 70 or over;
5.3% of SVCC’s clients were between the ages of 14 and 17 when they made contact. Of the clients who were supported by the SVCC last year, 23% were students.
In a year that saw considerable disruption to the typical services provided by the Sexual Violence Centre Cork and other similar organisations, the SVCC responded to 2,383 calls and texts from January to December.
This figure is significantly lower than the 3,469 calls and texts received in 2020, though the SVCC says the drop is most likely a direct result of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on survivors' ability to access support.
63% of the calls to the centre last year came from the victim themselves, with the remainder coming from a friend or a family member.
From these communications, the centre offered 1,659 appointments last year and helped support 341 new clients.
28 victims were assisted by the centre’s Sexual Assault Treatment Unit - a major decrease on the 197 assisted one year prior. However, SVCC believes this again was likely due to the pandemic.
Sexual Violence Centre Cork CEO Mary Crilly says “adaptation and flexibility were the hallmarks of the centre’s work in 2020.”
“When our phone lines were largely silent and less new clients were making contact, we used the opportunity to work our way through the existing waiting list for counselling," she said.
All of the centre's social media profile's saw significant increases in follower numbers last year, and the centre also revamped its website and began to provide some of its services online and by phone.
Our 2020 Annual Report is now available online.
— Sexual Violence Centre Cork (@SVCCork) October 28, 2021
To read the report in full, visit https://t.co/KhDIopb8SL
“We put increased energy into our social media platforms, as this was now the only effective way for us to reach out to victims and to keep the dialogue about sexual violence going," Ms Crilly said.
"Despite some reservations and despite internet glitches, the centre has decided to continue to use these technologies into the future, thereby offering hybrid services to our clients. Geography will no longer be the barrier to accessing services that it was in the pre-Covid era.
"The year 2020 was undoubtedly a year of challenge. I will remember it as a year, that as a country, as a sector, as a Centre, we rose to that challenge."
- The Sexual Violence Centre Cork's Annual Report for 2020 can be read in full at: www.sexualviolence.ie/post/annual-report-2020
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