Archive for category: Press Releases

Protections for Vulnerable Witnesses Like Rape Victims Must Start Well Before the Court Room

In a timely report, a Multi-Agency Group of experts, convened by Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI), has recommended that the use of pre-recorded evidence should be increased and that pre-recorded cross-examination should be piloted in Irish courts in order to better protect and support vulnerable witnesses, as has been done successfully in England and Wales.

“Our criminal justice system is based on the premise that face-to-face live evidence at trial is the best evidence which can be obtained,” said Caroline Counihan BL, RCNI’s Legal Director. “Modern psychological research does not support this conclusion, particularly since the advent of high resolution pre-recorded video and video-link solutions.”

“Pre-recording a Garda statement soon after a complaint has been made maximises the potential of the witness to recall, fully and accurately, what happened, to give his or her best evidence and to help minimise the risk of secondary traumatisation by reducing exposure to the adversarial criminal justice process itself,” she said. “In our view, it is time that the limitations of the live evidence only approach – often months or years after the alleged crime took place – were addressed.”

The Vulnerable Witnesses Multi-Agency Group was convened by Caroline Counihan and includes senior representatives from the Bar, Academia, An Garda Síochána, the Courts Services as well as a number of NGOs. It has been working for over a year on the report.
It strongly recommends that pre-trial hearings should be placed on a statutory footing and that they should be the primary means through which special protection needs are determined.

The Group makes 33 recommendations in all, across eight headings in the report – Hearing Every Voice – Towards a new Strategy on Vulnerable Witnesses in Legal Proceedings.

RCNI welcomes commitments made by the Minister to review all aspects of sexual assault cases in the wake of the recent Belfast rape trial, and it looks forward to working with him to ensure that vulnerable witnesses are given the best protections possible, without endangering the right to a fair trial of the defendant.

“With the Belfast trial we saw how difficult the system can be on the witnesses,” Cliona Saidlear, said Director of RCNI. “We know that we can make it better and that vulnerable witnesses can have a less traumatising experience in giving vital evidence.”

“Stronger, individually tailored protections will help ensure the best evidence is obtained, benefitting the criminal justice system as a whole,” she continued. “The rights of the witness and the defendant within the legal system are not always or necessarily in direct competition with each other. The system of giving live evidence, often under arduous cross-examination, does not work well for many vulnerable witnesses because their voices are not heard as they should be. It does not work for the whole community either because it means that fewer perpetrators are held accountable.”

The Multi-Agency Group has recommended that if pre-recorded statements and examinations are to become a fair and effective alternative for vulnerable witnesses, it is vital that their introduction is underpinned by new statutory provisions regulating pre-trial hearings and provisions governing disclosure.

The group has also recommended that continuing professional development training programmes on issues relevant to vulnerable witnesses and accused must be made available and resourced adequately, in particular for judges, legal professionals and members of An Garda Síochána. It said that it welcomed advanced advocacy courses already in place for barristers which examine such topics as how to cross-examine without repetition, without using obscure language and “without hectoring, lecturing, demeaning or otherwise badgering the witness”.

Within their recommendations, the Multi-Agency Group takes into account all witnesses in need of special support and protection. These include children, people with an intellectual disability or mental health difficulty, victims of sexual or domestic violence, and those who may not necessarily be identified as needing the extra protection of special measures under current legislation.

The conclusions and recommendations also acknowledge some very positive developments in recent times in the protection of vulnerable witnesses, on the part of judges, legal professionals and An Garda Síochána as well as on the part of Government.

 

Not Just in the Court Room – Key Recommendations from Reporting to Trial

• The use of pre-recorded evidence and the giving of evidence by video-link should be increased.
• Pre-recorded cross-examination should be piloted.
• Pre-trial hearings should be placed on a statutory footing.
• Additional protections or “special measures” should be available to vulnerable accused persons as well as vulnerable victims and other witnesses;
• With regard to child witnesses, specialist approaches from other jurisdictions should be further explored;
• Professional training on facilitating vulnerable witnesses should be enhanced and funded.
• The complicated issue of delay should be addressed so that delays between initial complaints and any hearings are reduced as far as possible
• The use of professional intermediaries qualified to assist the court should be examined further; existing statutory provisions in this area should be extended to allow for answers as well as questions to be communicated via an intermediary.
• A new Vulnerable Witnesses in Legal Proceedings Initiative should be established and led by Government, which is aimed at making the criminal justice system as accessible as possible for all vulnerable witnesses

Members of the Vulnerable Witnesses Multi-Agency Working Group

Caroline Counihan, RCNI (Group Co-Ordinator), Rape Crisis Network Ireland
Mary Rose Gearty SC, Council of the Bar of Ireland
Joan O’Mahony, Solicitor
Miriam Delahunt BL, PhD
Alan Cusack BCL, LLM, PhD, Lecturer in Law, University of Limerick
Conor Hanly BA, LLB, LLM (NUI), LLM, JSD (Yale), Lecturer in Law, NUIG Galway School of Law
Inspector Michael Lynch, An Garda Síochána
Eamonn Doherty, Courts Service
Suzy Byrne, National Advocacy Service
Eve Farrelly, Cari
Noeline Blackwell, Dublin Rape Crisis Centre
Caitriona Gleeson, SAFE Ireland
Yvonne O’Sullivan, Inclusion Ireland

Report Rape figures jump a shocking 28% according to new Crime Statistics release

RCNI today welcome the CSO release of crime statistics ‘under reservation’ from An Garda Siochána for the first time since they were suspended at the end of 2016. We support the continued effort by all parties to ensure that these vital statistics become reliable and accurate reflections of reported crime in Ireland today.

RCNI call on government and all parties to ensure that, where we can have good data on sexual violence, we make every effort to ensure this evidence is accurate and available.

Clíona Saidléar, RCNI Executive Director said, ‘In 2017 all recorded sexual offences rose by almost 17% with rape up 28% and sexual assault (non-aggravated) up 15%. These are very significant increases.
RCNI recognise that the CSO is releasing these figures ‘under reservation’. This is a compromise between having the continued unacceptable absence of all statistics and releasing some that have not yet reached an acceptable standard but which give us a good indication of what those numbers are. The large changes in reporting numbers in sexual offences from 2016 – 2017 tell us why this release, even if under reservation, is so important.

Saidléar continued, ‘We owe all victims of crime dignity, respect and truth. The CSO were not satisfied that the headcount of reported crimes and classification of reports was dependable, and so took the decision to cease releasing knowingly inaccurate statistics. This was the only decision possible under basic data governance standards. RCNI made this same decision with our own Rape Crisis Data in 2016 as the complete lack of funding from government meant that the RCNI could not support standardisation and verification processes.

‘To be able to say anything truthful or meaningful through statistical data you have to be able to say that the base data entering the system at every point is consistent, standardised, accurate and verified. To talk about data in statistical terms you also need enough data to make any sort of meaningful contribution to knowledge, indeed you also have to have the numbers to ensure safety and privacy for your data subject. This is the fundamental ethics of data for statistical purposes.’

‘The current situation on sexual violence statistics in Ireland means that we have all too little statistical insights into sexual violence. Given the nature of the crime in our culture this lack of insight arises, in part, out of the silence around the issue. These crime statistics only represent those who report and are therefore the tip of the iceberg. But in the places where survivors make themselves known to us, such as in reporting a crime or contacting and a rape crisis centre, we must take seriously our duty to learn and evidence as much as it can in an appropriate, legal and respectful manner. We must not continue to shape our responses and prevention strategies in the absence of such basic knowledge.’

Notes
– Crime Statistics annual to Q4 2016 and 2017 http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-rc/recordedcrimeq42017/additionalstatisticaltables/#d.en.157454
– RCNI annual rape crisis statistics 2004 – 2015 available on www.rcni.ie under publications

This opinion piece was published in the Irish Independent on the 16th of November 2017

We have experienced an extraordinary month of public disclosures about sexual harassment and assaults. What should happen now?

Suggestions range across questions such as, do we need to hear more from survivors of harassment in other institutions and not just the Gate Theatre and the Dáil for example? Do we need inquiries to hear survivors’ stories and should they be run by institutions or somehow independent? Who should hear these stories? Do we need to hear more from the men who are harassed?

In the face of stories from survivors, we say we want to hear more. Why? Have the stories already told not shown us how the powerful and entitled both used and were shielded by that power and how we were complicit, duped or turned a blind eye?

Those insights demand significant and painful work from us, this will include honest reflection on ourselves, our culture, our institutions and our certainties. Instead, responding to hearing survivor’s stories all too often we demand more survivors’ stories.

That is not a response – it is a delay tactic.

In rape crisis we are trained in listening because, despite the myths, we Irish are terrible listeners. We hear and see what we expect to hear and see, and that is often what is comfortable for us and not what we are being told. Survivor’s stories should make us uncomfortable, not just at the crimes of the perpetrators, but because of what they reveal about ourselves and our society.

Last week two amazing women, Amy Barrett and Melissa O’Keeffe, waived their anonymity and spoke about their father’s conviction for the years of abuse he perpetrated against them. What they led with in their statement was that it was not about the sentence for them, it was about his admission of wrongdoing, ensuring the protection of other children and closure.

They spoke about it being reported to the HSE in 1999, indeed one of the sisters had made a statement to the Guards much earlier when she was just a 16 year old child, only to withdraw it when she came under pressure from her family. The sisters, as part of their statement said that the HSE ‘could have done more’ back then and the case ‘petered out’.

In 2014 they had again reported their father and committed themselves to going through the criminal justice system and all that that demands of survivors and then last week they waived their anonymity so he could be named and they could tell us what happened in their case. We owe them a tremendous debt but it should not have been their burden.

Two decades since it was first reported these sisters spoke about finally have the peace of mind that their father cannot abuse other children. One of the sisters spoke of how she was finally free of the feeling of guilt and anxiety for other children’s safety; a guilt she knew did not belong to her but she had carried nonetheless.

The media reported their words giving them the voice they had been denied decades earlier. Their words were powerful, informative and insightful. But apart from reporting their words, what did the media do?

Did journalists ring the HSE or Tusla or question the process with the Guards? If policies and procedures were followed, does the Minister know if the current system is sufficient and effective? If a 16-year-old child makes such a statement to the guards today will we have to wait until 2040 before we can say that they and other children are safe from the named abuser? How many journalists asked searching questions about what happened in the two decades between first disclosures and the conviction? Few.

Instead, in a familiar rehash of a truism, many headlines read that the sisters had waived there anonymity in order to call on more survivors to come forward, or more strongly, urging them to report. These headlines presumably deriving from the sisters’ supportive statements such as that, it did not matter how long it took a victim to come forward – it was never too late. Survivors often do find it helpful to hear other survivors speak out, perhaps particularly when that is not a step they feel they can safely make themselves.

But the lesson, the media told us, was not that we needed to demand better from society and the responsible institutions when disclosures are made, but that we needed more survivors to come forward.

Survivors deserve a response that lifts the unjust burden from their shoulders; that carries the questions and lessons forward to challenge power. Otherwise survivors are left holding our burden. In this moment we must become better listeners. We have a responsibility to act when survivors speak their truth.

Clíona Saidléar, PhD, Executive Director, Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI)

Follow up on complaint to Newstalk re George Hook Oct 2017

RCNI complaint to Newstalk re George Hook 8th September 2017