Alleged rape victim claims she had to face IRA court

A Belfast woman who alleged she was raped by an IRA member has claimed she had to face her alleged assailant in a republican-style court.

The woman, who will waive her right to anonymity, will tell Spotlight on BBC Northern Ireland tomorrow night that she was subjected to what the programme has described as a republican "kangaroo court".

After the court case against her alleged abuser collapsed earlier this year, the BBC said the programme will investigate “the wider context of her claims”.

“One thing that you don’t want to do is come to face to face with the guy who has abused you,” the woman has told Spotlight.

“They told me that they were going to read my body language to see who was telling the truth.”

Her allegations follow claims last year by Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin that he knew of at least two cases of alleged sexual abuse that were dealt with internally by republicans, rather than being brought to the police.

“From information we have picked up, and we have talked to other people, this may have been a broader trend in the republican movement,” said Mr Martin in November last year.

“Just like the (Catholic) church, that the republican movement saw the institution of the republican movement as more important than individual victims,” he added.

At the time, Sinn Fein said the claims were disgraceful and totally untrue.

The programme airs on BBC 1 Northern Ireland tomorrow night at 10.35 pm.