Rape Crisis Centre concern over publicity

CLARE people and priests should think twice before contemplating offering any public show of solidarity to a person charged with sexual assault.

That’s according to Rape Crisis Centre Mid-West director, Miriam Duffy, who has expressed concern aboutthe publicity surrounding a Listowel man convicted of sexual assault last week.
The case of 35-year-old Danny Foley came to national prominence after a local priest, Fr Seán Sheehy, provided a character reference for Foley, saying he had the height of respect for women.
Minutes before the sentence hearing, Fr Sheehy and up to 50 others queued to shake hands with Foley, who was then sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, suspending the final two, for sexual assault.
Following a public outcry and criticism from the Bishop of Kerry, Dr Bill Murphy, Fr Sheehy withdrew from his parish work last Friday.
The Rape Crisis Centre Mid-West receives an estimated 250 calls from people in the region who are victims of rape or sexual assault on an annual basis and about one-quarter of these are from Clare.
It operates an outreach counselling service in Ennis for women who can’t travel into Limerick, which runs for one and a half days a week.
Ms Duffy pointed out that between 15 and 20% of all alleged rape and sexual assault cases are reported to the gardaí but a much smaller percentage of these actually end up in court.
She acknowledged that the publicity surrounding the Foley case would not encourage anyone who was subjected to a sexual attack to come forward and report the incident. However, she pointed out that the regional service had received a huge number of support calls and emails from people who were outraged by the public response to the case.
She stated that local people, including Fr Sheehy, may have felt that Mr Foley wasn’t guilty and that the charge didn’t reflect what had happened. However, this wasn’t reflected in court, where a conviction was recorded following examination of the facts.
Stating that this was a once-off case, she said there is a myth that a rape didn’t take place unless a person was bashed on the head, dragged down a dark lane and raped.
However, in the majority of cases, this crime is conducted by a husband, partner or assailant known to the rape victim in familiar surroundings, such as their own home.
She advised a person who might be thinking of giving a character reference or a show of public support to a person charged with this crime not to get involved and to think of the impact on the victim.
“The Rape Crisis Centre offers guidance to anyone who has suffered from rape or sexual assault on what they can do and what are the likely outcomes in their own particular case.
“We will stand by them and provide whatever assistance we can, whether or not they decide to report the incident to the gardaí.
“There is a slight increase in opportunistic rape over the Christmas period because there are more people on the move but it’s not a hugely significant increase. Clare people have been very generous in response to fundraising collections for the centre in 2009 and we hope this can continue next year,” she said. 
Anyone who is the victim of a rape or sexual assault over the Christmas period can contact the 24-hour helpline on 1800311511 for advice and assistance.