ELLEN O’MALLEY DUNLOP
We need a better way to conduct rape trials for all those involved
THESE past two months, we have been reading accounts in our newspapers and online and listening to reports every day on both television and radio on the rape trial that took place in Belfast Crown Court.
I wonder if I was to ask the young woman who was the complainant in the trial if she felt she was the one on trial, having spent eight days in the witness box being crossexamined by the legal teams of the accused, what would her answer have been?
I have no doubt that she would have said that she felt she was the one on trial.
Given the verdict delivered by the jury, I sincerely hope that this young woman will have the support that she will need to help her get on with the rest of her life.
The innuendos and manner of questioning that she was subjected to by counsel for the defendants demonstrated and perpetuated inappropriate attitudes to alleged victims that have to be challenged.
One counsel for the defence stated that it was this woman’s word against the three men’s, as if to say she had to be lying.
Another defence counsel stated that the complainant made up the rape because she was afraid of what could be put up on social media, having been seen to engage in group sex. Some of the other statements and inferences that were made to discredit the young woman were referred to as a throwback to ‘another era’ when alleged victims were blamed for how they dressed and for putting themselves in compromising situations.
Yet, we must not be complacent and think that attitudes to victims of sexual violence have hugely changed from that ‘other era’.
Attitudes have a long shelf life, and it wasn’t so long ago when one of our radio presenters was suspended from his position at the radio station where he worked because of comments he made regarding victim-blaming.
Of course, a rape case is so often one person’s word against another’s because usually there is no one else present except two people.
The prosecution in this case highlighted the reality for the woman who was in a state of shock as to what had happened to her.
When the judge was instructing the jury, she spoke about not putting too much emphasis on some of the inconsistencies in the complainant’s story and not to see it as lying.
The judge obviously had some understanding of the consequences of trauma on an individual.
Reactions to traumatic experiences – and make no doubt about it, this woman was traumatised – are to fight, to fly or to freeze.
The alleged victim in this instance froze initially, and then she fled.
The evidence of the taxi driver witness provided no doubt as to how upset she was after the trauma she alleged she experienced in Paddy Jackson’s house.
There are significant differences in how rape trials are conducted between our criminal justice system in the Republic of Ireland and the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland.
This trial has highlighted the difference between Northern Ireland’s anonymity laws and those in this jurisdiction, which prohibit the identification of rape-accused persons before conviction. Irish law states that those accused of rape can only be identified publicly if convicted and then only if the victim waives her or his right to anonymity and if the trial judge consents.
This is because identifying such people could lead to the identification of the victim, either
because the offender was a relative or could be easily linked to the victim in the mind of the public.
In Northern Ireland, the accused person is named before conviction. One big concern throughout the reporting of this trial, in particular, has to be the effect that it will have on other alleged victims of sexual violence. Will they be able to report heinous crimes committed against them in the light of what they now know they have to go through if their cases get to court?
Cases only get to court if there is a really good indicator that the crime can be proven beyond all reasonable doubt.
Observers of this case will know the huge service alleged victims who report these heinous crimes do for society when their cases get to court and the accused person is found guilty and is appropriately punished.
Yes, a person who is accused of a crime should be presumed innocent until proven guilty and should be afforded a fair trial, but what about the victim in these cases?
The trial process in cases of sexual violence needs to be examined because we must find a better way of conducting these cases for everyone involved, for both the accused and the alleged victims.
There is no doubt that there is an absolute necessity to have ageappropriate sex and relationship education from pre-school through to third level so that campaigns like #metoo will belong to the past.
However, we have a very long road to travel before we reach this destination.
One big concern throughout the reporting of this trial, in particular, has to be the effect that it will have on other alleged victims of sexual violence