Domestic violence survivor: ‘I don’t feel safe in Ireland’

It is nearly five years to the day since Jane Ruffino’s partner beat her so hard that he broke his hand.

Today, Jane lives in another country. She does not feel safe in Ireland. Meanwhile her attacker, Mark Jordan, formerly of Ringsend Park, Ringsend, received a €5,000 fine from the court and did not spend a single night in prison.

Jane, a technology writer and content designer, does not speak often about what happened to her these days but when she heard that the new Domestic Violence Bill would not make abuse within a relationship a specific crime her emailed response was unequivocal: “Wow, wow, wow, talk about evasion!”

Domestic violence will not be made a standalone crime due to the complexities of proving physical and psychological abuse took place within the confines of a relationship. This does not make sense to Jane.

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“Crime is complicated. Fraud is complicated. It’s not a simple thing. The whole point of lawyers is they are trained to deal with complexity. It’s their job to deal with interpreting the law according to the real world.

“The law should be able to handle it and it’s a cop-out to say it’s not.”

In 2015, the State signed the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Article 33 requires states to criminalise psychological abuse in a relationship.

“If Frances Fitzgerald is saying she doesn’t think it should be a separate crime, why did they sign the convention?” Jane asks. “They promised. That’s what the Istanbul Convention is about, it’s about recognising that this is not just two people in a conflict, that this is not just a fight that gets out of hand, it’s that this is a gender-based crime that is absolutely rooted in patriarchy. That’s what it supposed to be for.”

A dedicated domestic violence offence would allow gardaí to prosecute offenders for a pattern of abuse rather than waiting for the most serious incident to occur.

Jane left Ireland nearly four years ago. She rarely returns.

“I don’t feel safe in Ireland at all. I miss my friends but I have no desire to return. I’ve been back twice in 3½ years. I really felt I needed to hide.”