Four times as many rapes were reported to the Rape Crisis Centre (RCC) this year than to the Garda, the centre's director, Ms Olive Braiden, said yesterday. And despite a steady rise in the number of rapes reported to gardai, Ms Braiden said she was not surprised by the disparity between the centre's figures and the Garda's.
Garda figures released yesterday showed that 259 rapes had been reported to gardai in the first 11 months of this year. The total for 1996 was 195. Ms Braiden welcomed the establishment of a Garda team to research the last three years' rape figures.
More than 1,100 first-time callers contacted the RCC in the year to June 1997 in relation to rape, an average of almost 100 a month. Ms Braiden said only 29 per cent of people who approach the centre for counselling for rape or childhood sexual abuse make a report to gardai.
The increase in reports to gardai was a "good sign that people are willing to report rape". She said the centre would be pleased to co-operate with research carried out by gardai.
She said the single reason people gave for not reporting a rape to gardai was a reluctance to take a case through the courts. "People don't want to take on the criminal justice system. There is still a stigma attached to being raped. The majority of rapes reported to gardai are stranger rapes."
Staff at the centre advise all people to report the rape. "But if they come late and there is no forensic evidence that can lead to problems." Ms Braiden said people were also discouraged by the number of cases not brought to prosecution by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Giving legal representation to rape victims would be the best way to encourage people to report attacks to gardai, she said. "It is the one single change that will make the greatest difference."
