Rape victims in Ireland are facing delays of over 15 months for their trials to be heard due to a lack of judges. Four rape trials set to begin earlier this month could not proceed as scheduled and were pushed back until after November 2015. Victim advocacy groups warn that such long delays cause many victims to withdraw from the legal process. They call for reforms to ensure sexual assault cases are dealt with in a timely manner and do not retraumatize victims.

1. IrishIndependent
Saturday 26 July 201410
News
Your case won’t be heard
until November 2015,
rape complainants told
Michael Staines
RAPEcrisisorganisationshave
warned that complainants of
sexualviolencearebeingfailed
by the system as a result of
delays in the length of time it
takes for a trial to come before
the courts.
The Irish Independent has
learned that earlier this month
four rape trials were before the
courts twice in the space of a
week, but were then put back
until after November 2015.
All four were ready to go
ahead. However, there was no
judge available to hear the evi-
dence.
One of the cases involves a
woman with mental disabili-
ties who was allegedly raped
after becoming separated from
her mother.
News of the delays come after
Chief Justice Susan Denham
warned that any further reduc-
tions to the Courts Service
budget would cause “great and
lasting damage” to the system.
Cliona Saidlear, spokes-
woman for the Rape Crisis Net-
work Ireland (RCNI), said that
it took a huge amount of
courage for a complainant to
come to court.
“According to our research,
one of the biggest causes of
cases dropping out of the sys-
tem is the length of time it takes
for them to be heard,” she said.
“It takes an awful lot to pre-
pare yourself for that moment.
To go into court and to get into
that building . . . and then for
that to be put back another 15
months, it is an awful lot to ask
of a survivor.”
A spokesperson for the
Department of Justice said that
under the Constitution judges
were appointed by the Presi-
dent on the advice of the Gov-
ernment.
Judges
Six new judges have been
appointed to the Court of Crim-
inal Appeal. However, these
judges do not hear new trials.
When asked if more judges
would be appointed to help
cope with the backlog of crim-
inal cases before the courts, the
department did not respond.
The Irish Independent has
learned that a number of the
defendants in the four cases
which were adjourned until
next year are in custody await-
ing trial and will remain there
until the cases are heard.
“It is absolutely outrageous
that anybody should be
remanded in custody while pre-
sumed innocent for two-and-
a-half years, awaiting trial,” said
a senior legal source.
“In fact, in rape cases the
acquittal rate is very high so
you might find a guy who has
been in custody for two-and-a-
half years and then gets acquit-
ted.”
Helen Mortimer, executive
director of the Galway Rape
Crisis Centre, said that cases
involving sexual violence should
be dealt with as early as possi-
ble and in a consistent man-
ner.
“To me there needs to be a
root and branch review of how
survivors are treated in the
courts having experienced any
form of sexual violence or rape,”
she said.
The Rape Crisis Centre runs
a 24-hour national helpline on
1800 77 88 88.
Susan Denham: warned
against further cutbacks
Two bikers
killed in
van collision
Emma Jane Hade
and Pat Flynn
TWO young men on a motor-
bike have been killed in a colli-
sion with a van.
Thomas Hurley (31) and
Thomas McCormack, aged in
his mid-20s, died early yester-
day when the motorcycle on
which they were travelling col-
lided with a van on the N80
Portlaoise to Carlow road.
The incident occurred close
to Arles, Co Laois, and the van
driver was taken to the Mid-
lands Regional Hospital,
although he is not understood
to have been seriously hurt.
Mr Hurley and Mr McCor-
mack are understood to be from
Co Carlow.
They bring the total number
of motorcyclists to have died
on Irish roads to 15 this year.
Separately, an elderly woman
who was injured in a road traf-
fic accident in Co Clare last
Monday has died in hospital
from her injuries.
The woman, in her late 80s,
named as Mary Kelly and
believed to be from Ennis town,
was travelling in a car which col-
lided with a mini-SUV about
9km from Ennis on the Kilrush
road.
Is this a bright idea?
THE Justice Minister is look-
ing for the public's input on
whether we should perma-
nently put the clocks forward.
A cross-party committee is
seeking submissions about
whether we should move to
European time for three years
on a trial basis. It's part of the
Brighter Evenings Bill, which
aims to put Ireland on
Central European Time and in
line with the rest of the
continent. Submissions
should be sent to the Commit-
tee on Justice, Defence and
Equality by Friday, September
12.
Quizmaster Norton
BBC star Graham Norton will
do the neighbourly thing and
support the local festival in
his adopted village.
The chat show host and
comedian will serve as quiz-
master for the sold-out chari-
ty table quiz in Ahakista in
west Cork next Friday. Norton
bought a house in Ahakista
several years ago.
Bomb found in house
HOUSES were evacuated and
roads closed for almost an
hour while an Army bomb
disposal team dealt with a
viable explosive device that
had been discovered by gar-
dai.
Officers found the
pipebomb while searching a
house in Edgeworthstown, Co
Longford, yesterday after-
noon. The Army arrived on
the scene around lunchtime
and removed the device,
which was later made safe
through a controlled explo-
sion. Following further exami-
nation by the Army, the
component parts of the
improvised device were hand-
ed over to the gardai.
Body taken from lake
THE body of a man has been
recovered from a lake popular
with fishermen.
Gardai were understood to
be treating the discovery of
the man, who was believed to
be in his late 30s, as a tragic
incident. He was found short-
ly after 6pm yesterday
evening in the waters of
Lough Ramor in Virginia, Co
Cavan. Gardai are awaiting
the results of a post-mortem
examination due to be carried
out at Our Lady’s Hospital
in Navan, Co Meath, later
today.
Blast sparks blaze
A FAMILY was evacuated
from their home last night fol-
lowing a suspected gas explo-
sion in a garden shed which
caused their house to catch
fire.
Six units of Dublin Fire
Brigade were still battling the
blaze at midnight on
Cedarmount Road in Mount
Merrion, south Dublin. No
one was injured in the blaze.
The cause of the explosion is
under investigation but
firefighters believe a gas
canister in the garden shed
may have exploded.
Briefs I’veseenstarvationhorrors,
saysHolocaustsurvivor
leadingGreatFamineevent
Claire McCormack
HUNGER and exile – these are some of
the links between the Great Famine and
the Holocaust which will be remembered
at a commemoration event today.
Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental
will lead this year’s annual Famine 1848
Walk, taking place this afternoon from
The Commons to the Famine Warhouse
in Farranrory, Co Tipperary.
The walk commemorates all those who
died, fled and tried to stage a public rebel-
lion during the
Famine and Rising
of 1848.
“As a survivor of
the Holocaust who
experienced starva-
tion, it was only
natural that I
should agree to lead
the commemora-
tion,” said Mr
Reichental.
In 1944, aged
nine, he was round-
ed up in Bratislava,
Slovakia, and sent to “hell on earth” –
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in
Germany – with members of his family.
“We saw emaciated skeletons walk-
ing very slowly, aimlessly, shaved heads,
eyes sunk in the sockets of the skull,” said
Mr Reichental (79), who will deliver a
speech after the walk.
The survivor, a qualified engineer, said
he knows all about the degradation that
comes with the ache of hunger. “Our
daily food consisted of two slices of bread
and black coffee in the morning, turnips
boiled in water for lunch and two slices
of bread with coffee in the evening,
around 700 calories a day.”
The Bergen-Belsen camp was liberat-
ed in 1945. Mr Reichental, his mother and
his brother managed to survive until
then and were liberated on April 15, 1945.
In 1959 he moved alone to Dublin to
work. Thirty-five of his family perished
in the Holocaust including grandpar-
ents, uncles, aunts and cousins.
“Some
were gassed,
some were
worked to
death, some
were execut-
ed, and some
were star-
ved,” said the
father of
three, whose
wife died 11
years ago.
A new doc-
umentary
about Mr Reichental’s journey back into
his past will be screened on RTE this Sep-
tember.
Proud to be the first Jew to lead the
Famine 1948 Walk, Mr Reichental said
Jews had made significant efforts for
the Irish during their time of dire need.
“Jewish banker Lionel de Rothschild
set up the British Relief Association, the
biggest and best organisation at sending
food to Ireland,” he said.
Tomi Reichental holds a photograph of himself with his parents Judith and
Arnold and cousin Chava and, right, his extended pre-war family. MARK CONDREN
R