Victims feel still ‘on trial’ for rape

Victims of rape still feel ‘on trial’


Ellen O’Malley Dunlop is Chief Executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC). She commutes to her home on Clare Island regularly. Here she tells The Mayo News about a recent conference co-hosted by the DRCC and the Law School of Trinity College.
AT a recent conference, marking 30 years of service of the DRCC, President Mary McAleese observed that as a society we are no longer as ignorant, naïve or silent as were were 30 years ago. However, she also referred to the pervading ‘long shelf life of attitudes’ that behoved us all to challenge and upturn.
“As a society we are stronger post Murphy and Ryan. As a society we are stronger every time a rapist or sexual predator of any kind is called to account and held to account before our courts. But we would have no such reports and no successful convictions without victims who are prepared to initiate and sustain the process that leads over months and sometimes years to a court verdict.
“Every time a victim faces down an attacker in court they deserve support, respect and gratitude from the public, for theirs is not just a personal service, or a personal crusade, but a crucial public service,” President McAleese continued.
The most poignant moment for me, during the conference, was when one woman out of the 300 delegates spoke, from the audience, of how she had felt she was on trial when her case came before the courts. She said that while the perpetrator was found guilty she felt she was ‘on trial’.
So difficult was her situation and so ostracising that she had to leave her home eventually and move to another town.
We witnessed a repeat of this attitude in the case that got so much public attention before Christmas in  Listowel.
These are ill informed, callous and entrenched attitudes towards the crime and they should be unacceptable in our society today. As our President has urged they must be addressed, challenged and changed.

MORE
“I was raped and it still haunts me”
Sordid sex uncovered
Myths about rape and sexual assault