Judge says rape complainants ‘should have access to legal advice’

Mr Justice Paul Butler made the comments during his sentencing of a 24-year-old Dublin man who raped a teenage acquaintance after forcing her into a park.

Mr Justice Butler noted that the case was “an illustration of the fact that rape trials are a very harrowing experience for complainants”.

Dublin Central Criminal Court heard that the trial collapsed twice before it went to a jury a third time, because the victim had a panic attack on the second occasion.

The man, who cannot be named to protect his then 17-year-old victim’s identity, was convicted of one charge of rape after a trial last February.

He had pleaded not guilty to the offence at a west Dublin park on 7 March 2015. The jury acquitted the man of another rape charge involving the same complainant.

He was jailed for five years and has 51 previous convictions for non-violent crimes.

Yesterday, Mr Justice Butler said the difficulty was that the presumption of innocence remained with an accused until they were found guilty.

The judge said trials continue to be “a source of great stress” to complainants and discouragement to other complainants in coming forward and this needed to be addressed.

Mr Justice Butler warned that while “every consideration” must be given to complainants in trials, it should not serve to plant a suggestion of guilt in the jury’s mind.

Aoife Nic Ardghail, CCC.nuacht