NO reference was made to sexual abuse in the State’s first official document referring to non-accidental injury of children, the Inquiry into Child Abuse heard yesterday.

VICTIMS of physical violence and “emotional distress” — such as harassment and stalking — are legally entitled to give a victim impact statement in court.

Just over half of families of homicide victims and victims of rape and sexual assault say they were not informed by gardaí of support services, according to a new survey.

A rape victim has said she is devastated by a judge’s decision to let her attacker walk free from court in order to look after his special needs children.

A Dublin man will be sentenced next month for the repeated rape of his partner’s then 11-year-old daughter in her Galway home.

THE showdown between Taoiseach Brian Cowen and the 18 religious orders which signed the controversial 2002 child abuse indemnity deal is to take place next Thursday — a day after he meets survivors’ groups to hear their demands for an appropriate response from both Church and state.

Convicted rapist Larry Murphy is tonight spending his first night as a free man after his controversial release from prison.

AS rape is among the most heinous of crimes, any legal initiative likely to be perceived as undermining the gravity of such an offence should not be considered lightly, if at all.

Gardaí said medical tests along with CCTV footage and witness statements will show if there is evidence to substantiate claims by a college student that she was raped by a taxi driver.

IT is appalling that victims of sexual abuse are waiting up to two years before receiving full-time counselling support from a State scheme set up to help people recover after their traumatic experience.

We owe rape survivor Lavinia Kerwick a huge debt of gratitude.

The Government is facing mounting pressure to create new mechanisms to provide for consistent sentencing in rape cases, as anger grows over the suspended term handed down to a man who raped his girlfriend while she slept.

CAMPAIGNERS will be encouraged by the revelation that Health Minister Mary Harney is actively considering ways of streamlining the State’s response to Ireland’s growing crisis of rape and sexual assault.

Technology has changed, particularly through the ubiquitousness of the mobile phone but the need for research has not diminished, writes Alison O’Connor

In a victim impact statement the victim, now an adult, said that the abuse left her feeling disgusted with her body. She said she was aged only eight when she tried to kill herself.

More consideration was given by the judge to sex abuser Tom Humphries than to his victim, according to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC).

A woman who waived her right to anonymity after when she was raped as a teenager in the early 90s has spoken out about the need for criminal justice reform for victims.

Catch up on this morning's headlines...

The man accused of murdering Cork nurse Karen Buckley is due to appear in court in Scotland again today.