Sex offenders face prison if they contact victims

CONVICTED sex offenders can now be jailed for an additional five years if they contact their victims.

However, the orders to stay away from victims can only be in place for a maximum of a year, which means the abuser can make contact after 12 months has passed.

The rules allowing for the orders was introduced under the 2017 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act and signed into effect last week by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan.

The Minister said yesterday that the introduction of harassment orders ‘is an important step to help protect those who have suffered from sexual offences from being victimised further by their attackers’. He said he hoped that the measure ‘will help bring some peace of mind to victims in the potentially traumatic period’ when their attacker is released from prison.

The new harassment orders can prohibit the offender from communicating with the victim or from approaching the victim’s home, workplace or any other place frequented by the victim as the court deems appropriate.

The exact distance that the sexual order must maintain from the victim will be decided by the courts.

Orders can be imposed at the time of the offender’s sentence, where the sentence includes a term of imprisonment, or at any time before the offender’s release from prison.