Harris ‘ashamed’ of system for rape trials

Minister demands reform to stop ‘victim-shaming’

SIMON Harris has hit out at how rape trials are conducted in Ireland, saying that he is ‘ashamed’ of the current system.

The Health Minister said he doesn’t know how rape or sexual assault victims could be encouraged to come forward and report assaults after seeing some of the coverage of high-profile rape cases in this country.

‘I don’t think anybody in our country can be satisfied as to how a rape trial is conducted. I’m not satisfied. I’m quite frankly ashamed of the system in this country,’ said Mr Harris.

‘Protecting victims in our judicial system is really, really important. I’ve heard from far too many rape victims and victims of sexual assault who feel that they are re-traumatised and feel that they’re effectively victimshamed [during trials].’

The minister was speaking yesterday during the launch of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s annual report. According to the report, in 2018, of the 356 new client cases seen by the DRCC where the reporting status was known, only 104 were reported to An Garda Síochána. Speaking about the circumstances of sex assaults, Mr Harris said that he doesn’t care how many drinks a victim had on the night of the assault or what underwear they happen to wearing, and ‘neither do people in this country’.

‘How would a rape victim sitting at home thinking of reporting a crime to An Garda Síochána have felt if she or he watched some of the coverage of high-profile rape cases in this country?’ he said. ‘How could that possibly encourage them to come forward? So we really need to address that.’

The minister said that he is aware of work being done in this regard across the criminal justice system, but added that a lot more has to be done.

‘We must ensure that victims of sexual violence do not fear the criminal justice system and we must legislate to adapt for ever-changing realities of sexual abuse,’ said Minister Harris.

He said his colleague Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has committed to ‘conducting a review of how rape trials are conducted in the Republic’.

‘We have got to do an awful lot better in this area or we are not going to continue to see enough people actually come forward and reporting it,’ he added.

How rape trials are conducted on the island of Ireland has been the subject of intense debate ever since the Belfast rape trial last year involving former Ulster rugby players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding, after which they were acquitted.

Following this case, Minister Flanagan ordered a review of how rape trials are conducted here and began examining a series of reforms to the system.

In November last year, the closing remarks of a defence barrister during a rape trial in Cork drew further attention to this issue.

A 17-year-old girl had claimed that she was raped by a 27-yearold man while on a night out.

During the trial, the man’s barrister, Elizabeth O’Connell SC, asked the jury to consider whether the young woman was ‘open to meeting someone and being with someone’ because she decided to wear a lacy thong. The defendant was acquitted by the eight-man, four-woman jury after one-and-a-half hours of deliberation.

The outcome of the trial provoked Dublin SolidarityPeople Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger to produce a lacy thong in the Dáil in protest and prompted an online campaign and marches in Cork, Dublin and Limerick.

‘We have got to do a lot better’ Prompted an online campaign