This child abuse victim named herself online and got call from gardaí
REMEMBER THEIR NAMES 115 DAYS SINCE JUDGEMENT
A WOMAN who was raped when she was a child was phoned by gardaí after posting her name on Facebook, in the latest absurd twist in a law originally designed to protect child victims of crime.
As a result of a ruling by the Court of Appeal on Section 252 of the Children Act 2001, the trial judge ruled that the offender in the case could be named, but the woman, who was raped repeatedly over a fiveyear period by the partner of a close family member, could not be named in reports on the case despite her strong wish to go public.
The woman, who we are not naming today, said the law was no doubt originally intended to benefit children, but was now having a negative effect, and she is refusing to remove her post on social media in which she identifies herself as the victim in the case.
‘I can take my own Facebook post down but why should I? I have nothing to hide,’ she told the Irish Mail on Sunday.
‘Look, what is the worst they can do to me, throw me in jail, I’ve been through worse than that already.’
The woman has backed the MoS’s Remember Their Names campaign for the law to be changed as quickly as possible to allow for child victims of crime to once again be named.
In the hearing just before Christmas, the woman’s attacker – John Giltrap, 60, from Termonbarry, Hospital Hill, Bunclody, Co. Wexford – was jailed for 11 years when he appeared before the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Kilkenny, for the abuse that took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the woman was between the ages of 10 and 15.
He has since lodged an appeal against his conviction and sentence.
The woman wanted Giltrap’s identity to be revealed and wanted to waive her right to anonymity.
While Judge Michael McGrath said her attacker’s identity could be disclosed, after seeking advice from the DPP it was ruled she could not have her identity revealed due to the ruling in October in the Court of Appeal on the Children Act that has had devastating consequences for the rights of victims.
‘When John Giltrap was convicted I asked my barrister if he could be named and if I could be named as I had nothing to be ashamed of, and I was taken aback when she said she would have to ask the judge for permission,’ the woman told this newspaper.
‘She asked me had I not seen on the news last October where the law was changed to prevent the naming of anyone who had been abused or raped as a child, and to be honest I hadn’t. I had enough going on with the trial coming up and I wasn’t paying much heed to the news.
‘When she put it to the judge he allowed his [Giltrap’s] name to be made public but directed my barrister to ring the DPP there and then to clarify the position and ask for a ruling as to whether I could be named or not. The word that came back was I couldn’t be named and that shocked me.’
The woman believes it has taken away her rights as an adult. ‘I couldn’t believe it,’ she said. ‘I mean I am an adult now and surely that was my decision to make – not someone else’s. I can understand it when the victim is still underage, of course I can, but as an adult I felt it should have been my choice.’ And she is adamant that she wants to make her name public and is standing by her Facebook post identifying herself as the victim in the case, whatever the consequences.
‘This is not something I was in any way uneasy about, I was certain I wanted to do it and still am. I am telling you I 100% wanted my name out there,’ she said.
‘I then decided I would put it on Facebook that it was me; people close to me were asking me why I had changed my name in various newspaper stories and I had to explain to them that legally I had to do that even though I didn’t want to.’
However the post in late January soon attracted the attention of the gardaí. ‘Soon after it went up on Facebook on January 20 I was made aware that at least three individuals had complained to the gardaí about it, and since then the guards have spoken to me, by phone, on the matter.’
But the woman says she bears no ill-will towards the gardaí as they are simply doing their job.
‘They were extremely considerate and sensitive about the whole thing,’ she said.
‘It was a female guard and she went out of her way to be conscious of the fact that I was the victim in this situation.
‘That’s the whole point really – a victim of such horrific crimes should not be made feel like a victim of the law as well.’
Section 252 of the Children Act 2001 provides mandatory and automatic reporting restrictions in the case of ‘any proceedings for an offence against a child’. In October, the Court of Appeal found that these prohibitions extended to children who had died.
It means that it is now 115 days since the start of the absurd situation where child victims can no longer be named in the media.
A Bill drafted by Senator Michael McDowell and Jim O’Callaghan TD to fix the broken law has passed the Seanad and has gone back to the Dáil for further scrutiny.
This week Justice Minister Helen McEntee was pressed on a deadline for the Act to be passed, but would only say she hoped it could be done by early next month.
Last week a leading child psychologist warned that as long as the current law stands, it could ‘delay the grieving process’ for parents of children who have died as a result of a crime.
Dr Malie Coyne told the MoS the law ‘stops the free expression’ of grief and could also prevent people from finding support in others who have experienced similar trauma.
Last week the mother of an 11year-old boy who was murdered called on the minister to commit to changing the law as soon as possible so she can name her child and help other victims.
It also has implications for a prominent road safety campaign which uses the image of a boy killed by a drunk driver, while it also meant a teenager who died in a stabbing could no longer be named once a man had been charged over the death.
Although the offences against the woman at the centre of the Wexford rape case occurred before the 2001 Act came into force, because the offences were prosecuted after 2001, the Act applies and she cannot be named.
The woman said this week: ‘I am aware the minister is trying to change the law and that change cannot come soon enough. I guess whoever wrote that law in the first place meant well but it has taken away my freedom of choice.’
The woman’s wish to put her name into the public domain has attracted support from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.
Chief executive Noeline Blackwell said: ‘Really, if at the end of a case there is a conviction then there is no good reason why a person who is now an adult, and of sound mind, should not be allowed go public with their name.’
‘Why should I take my Facebook post down?’