Plea to protect women testifying in rape cases
A loophole in Irish law must be closed so women testifying in rape cases do not have to face questioning from their alleged attackers, campaigners demanded today.
As the law stands, defendants in rape cases – as in other criminal trials - can represent themselves and cross-examine witnesses.
The Rape Crisis Network Ireland is calling for a change in the law to prevent victims of sexual crimes being questioned by defendants during the trial.
Kate Mulkerrins, legal co-ordinator of RCNI described the loophole as a “crime of omission” against victims of sexual violence which allowed them to be humiliated and degraded on the stand.
“The lack of initiative to change the law means that Irish courts are standing by and allowing this wrong to be committed in their court rooms in the name of justice and right.
“This perversity of the legal system must be reformed with haste,” she said.
The law was changed in England and Wales in 1999 to prevent an unrepresented defendant personally cross-examining the complainant in a sexual offence.
The RCNI – the national forum of Rape Crisis centres in Ireland – is calling for a similar change to the law in this country.
