This article is from page 6 of the 2006-06-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
“NOW that the girls are going to be questioned on what they wore, why they were drinking, why they were talking to the man, they are not even going to go to the guards.
“It took two years with me fighting with myself to go to the guards. The only reason I went was because there were other people involved. I couldn’t think of myself, but there are a lot of people that aren’t going to go and I don’t blame them.
“If I had my choice over again, I wouldn’t go through it. I wouldn’t go to court.”
The angry words of a young Clare woman, who had been through the legal system under debate on Friday.
A number of years ago, she reported a family member for sexually abusing her as a child. But, while she does not regret reporting the abuse, she regrets the ordeal of the prosecution.
“I know from experience, you fight so damn hard to get it to the DPP. It took me nine hours sitting in the Garda station to tell my story,” she told The Clare People .
“Nine hours is a hell of a long time to sit there and pour your heart out.
“Then they decided whether to charge him or not, whether it was worth it,” she added, with tears of frustration in her eyes.
“Then you have to go and sit through a court room, where you are humiliated and treated like you are the perpetrator.
“If I murdered somebody, I wouldn’t be treated as badly as I was in court and that is wrong.”
The young woman, now in her twenties, explains how she lives every day with the ordeal of her young life.
“We live with this absolutely everyday of our lives,” she said, referring to all victims of abuse.
“Then you hear people like this, allowing them back out on the street with a pat on the back saying ‘off you go it wasn’t that serious’.
“You fight so hard to put them in prison and they turn around and let them back out. There is no justice in that. “I was told to stop crying in the court, or the case would be thrown out,” she explained.
“I wasn’t wrong to bring him to court, but there are days I still wake up and feel I did the wrong thing because I was treated so badly,” she said.
Following her day in court, she failed to get a conviction.