Majority of rape cases result in convictions

A majority of rape cases coming before the Central Criminal Court result in a conviction, according to figures seen by The Irish Times.

The court statistics, which cover 2006, do not support the contention of organisations working with rape victims that there is a reluctance of victims to report attacks because they feel a successful prosecution is unlikely.

Last year, the court dealt with 56 rape cases and just eight - 14 per cent - resulted in an acquittal. A nolle prosequi was entered in seven, no order was made in one case, one was struck out and one quashed. Some 27 defendants were convicted of rape and 11 were convicted on lesser charges.

The number of rape cases coming before the court last year increased by almost one-third. Some 58 new rape and sexual assault cases were filed last year, an increase of 32 per cent on the previous year. While this is the second year in a row that rape cases have increased, the latest figure is still less than half the peak recorded in 1998/99.

Six out of 10 cases were heard by a single judge, Mr Justice Paul Carney, who presided over 69 cases last year.

A majority of murder cases also resulted in a conviction; of 52 cases, there were 18 manslaughter convictions, 17 murder convictions and nine acquittals.

There were 33 new murder cases in 2006, a fall of about 6 per cent on the previous year.

The highest number of murder cases was recorded in 2002, when 55 cases came before the court. The figures, compiled by the registrar of the Central Criminal Court, Liam Convey, will be included in the Courts Service's annual report. In a brief preface, he noted that last year was the sixth year in a row when the number of completed cases ex- ceeded the number of new cases returned for trial to the court.

Last year, the court sat at six venues outside the Four Courts for 52 days. All cases were taken by Mr Justice Carney, who sat in Ennis, Waterford, Tralee, Cork, Limerick and Cloverhill.

The court completed 115 cases last year - 52 murder, 56 rape, five aggravated sexual assault and two others - compared to 116 the previous year.The mandatory life sentence was imposed for all 17 murder convictions, while two sentenced for manslaughter got 10 years or over. Some 25 per cent of those convicted of murder and 22 per cent convicted of manslaughter were foreign-nationals.