Character references give sex offenders a ‘cloak of respectability’ – survivors group

CHARACTER references given to convicted sex offenders should be seen by the courts as aggravating rather than mitigating factors in their sentencing, according to the head of child sex abuse survivors group One in Four.

Sex offenders, especially paedophiles, are experts in manipulation, which extends to all members of society and not just their victims, according to Maeve Lewis.

“In my mind, a person’s status in society is actually an aggravating factor and not a mitigating factor,” she told the Irish Independent.“It gives them a cloak of respectability.”

Paedophiles are experts at luring their victims with a false sense of trust and security, which is especially true when an offender has a high status job or role in the community, such as a teacher, coach or priest, she said. Yet the very notion that someone is seen as “a pillar of the community” allows them to perpetrate their crimes because they are seen as above reproach.

The fact former Cork hurler Donal Óg Cusack and ‘Sunday Times’ chief sports writer David Walsh both wrote character references for convicted paedophile and former ‘Irish Times’ sports writer Tom Humphries ahead of his conviction for grooming and sexually assaulting a schoolgirl has deeply angered survivors of sex abuse, she said.

“People have been ringing us all week and were very upset that character references were given undermining what the victim had to say or minimising their crime,” she said, adding anyone asked to give a reference for a sex offender should realise they are likely being played.