Justice should never be an ordeal for the victims

COMMENT

THE head of the International Monetary Fund has been remanded on bail in New York on a number of charges related to an alleged sexual assault on a woman working in a hotel in that city. The justice system in the US will decide in time who is telling the truth in the case. In the meantime, the rumour mill has gone into overdrive. Certain elements in France protest at his treatment and suggest conspiracies, while others delight in his downfall; it is an ugly business through and through. But, it does serve one valuable purpose. It brings to the fore, once again, the issue of sexual violence and how it is dealt with in modern, Western society. In this case, as is so often the case, the alleged victim is seen as a bit player, a pawn or a plant depending on what side of the power/political fence the commentator sits.
For many years, those working in this area have been trying to raise the failure to prosecute, failure to report because of fear and the incredibly low rates of attrition in cases of sexual violence and rape in Ireland as a genuine political issue. Despite a certain amount of progress, little has changed. While all the clamour has been going on with regard to people’s lives being ruined financially, this major area of suffering, distress and destruction has remained largely unaddressed in Irish political life.
This has been compounded by the fact that, far from bringing positive change, the new administration seems to be intent on following the dreadful mistakes of their predecessors on the subject.
If the Khan case had come to light in Donegal in a recent, unspecified period, the guilt or innocence of the alleged assailant would be immaterial because the medical evidence would be null and void. This is so because the Health Service Executive (HSE) employed a nurse who was not registered with The Nursing Board.
A press release dated the May 12, 2011 stated the following. “The HSE has become aware that a staff member working in the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) in Letterkenny General Hospital was not registered for a period of time with An Bord Altranais (The Nursing Board) due to non-payment of fees. The HSE has advised An Garda Siochána and are working closely with them in relation to this matter. All of the individuals affected were contacted yesterday. This was done jointly by the gardaí and the HSE.”
After so many years of campaigning on the part of women’s right’s groups and Rape Crisis Centres all over the country to have facilities established in outlying areas to sensitively meet the needs of people who have suffered this ordeal, this revelation must feel like a sucker punch. This is not to even speak of, or begin to address, the feelings of those women or men who have suffered an assault and who have been brave enough to report it and enter the criminal justice process.
The Rape Crisis Network of Ireland issued a statement the same day. “Today, 25 rape survivors heard that the forensic evidence gathered by the HSE may be thrown out of court due to HSE incompetence. An unregistered nurse carried out forensic exams on rape victims for 18 months in the specialist Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATUs) in Donegal. Her testimony and therefore the forensic evidence may not now be available in any court case. Communication breakdowns across the HSE appear to have contributed to this error. This is happening at the same time that the HSE closes down a proven National Data Collection system on child sexual abuse and rape.”  
Cutbacks to public services are the order of the day in the political climate in which Ireland finds itself. There is a stoical acceptance of slimming down State services in line with the fabricated public relations spin that money was wasted in the ‘good times’. There were no ‘good times’ for the victims of rape and sexual assault in Ireland in the ‘boom’. If a man or woman is raped or sexually assaulted in County Clare, where do they go? The nearest medical units are Galway or Limerick. Limerick is not a full unit as of yet but according to the Rape Crisis Network is “just shy” of that status.
The long-sought-after units established in outlying areas are finally being set up now and are staffed, in the instance of Donegal, by a person who does not hold the paperwork to give evidence on behalf of victims. No one is questioning the nurse in terms of ability at her job, but paperwork?
Anyone out there feeling the pinch of the recession and wanting a way out of unemployment, why not move to Ballina? There is a job on the FÁS website which offers no pay. You can work 38 hours a week and receive no salary to be trained in various skills such as “following procedures correctly, such as using a till, cutting and slicing machines” and gain the “ability to be friendly and polite, even when tired, or under pressure”. Don’t rush to apply though because, “you must be registered with FÁS and have checked your eligibility before you apply for this placement”. 
The word rape and the general area of sexual assault have not been done any justice by recent boorish comments by certain members of An Garda Siochána. Despite this fact, they will be the first port of call for many victims and there is support available through them. With the best of intentions however, they are restricted in what they can offer by the limited medical service available to them because of the HSE.
There is an incongruity inherent in this scenario. We live by the principle that everyone is entitled to a fair trial. Every human is innocent until proven guilty. As a result of the same principle, every victim is an accuser until proven otherwise. Every person accused has legal representation available on request, why is the same not made available to a victim of this terrible crime?
Why must the process of seeking justice be made an ordeal in itself when succour should be the main aim of the experience?
There is callousness in a policy exposed in this process and its habitual traumatising of victims who seek justice for what has been committed against them through the Irish justice system.