Ugh.
Alleged rape victim arrested in Ireland for refusal to testify

A woman who alleged that she was the victim of a gang rape in the Republic of Ireland has been arrested and temporarily imprisoned after refusing to give evidence against the three men accused of assaulting her.

The men, who have not been named for legal reasons, were acquitted last week of rape, false imprisonment and assault. But campaigners have condemned the treatment of the woman, who was told by the judge, Mr Justice Paul Carney, to stand directly in front of the three accused and point out her alleged assailants.

The woman, who is from eastern Europe, became so distressed that lawyers later complained they had feared she might collapse in court. When she failed to appear in court the next day, a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Police officers found the woman at her home, where she had apparently attempted suicide, but after receiving medical treatment she was arrested and spent a day in the jail cells of Dublin's Four Courts.

[...]

In issuing the warrant for the woman's arrest Carney indicated that there could be a retrial. He said: "If she has to spend a long time in prison herself waiting for a retrial that's her fault."

[...]

The case has provoked demands for a major overhaul of the way rape trials are conducted. Ellen O'Malley of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said the legal process made complainants "feel they are the ones on trial". She said Ireland had one of Europe's highest rates for rape cases collapsing.

"One of the main reasons for this high fallout rate is because complainants decide not to put themselves through what they say is a re-victimising experience."

Source.

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	sandglass 2012-02-13 12:46 am UTC (link)
	The men weren't named. But the victim was arrested. What the fuck. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	mareen 2012-02-13 05:15 pm UTC (link)
	Not sure about Ireland, but it is not unusual for European countries to have a law that prevents the names of accused and victims of a crime to be named openly. Their faces can also not be shown in a lot of cases. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sandglass 2012-02-13 07:44 pm UTC (link)
	But it's totally okay to arrest the victim! (I'm not saying that law is baseless but it sure shows who they care about.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

mistal
2012-02-14 04:18 am UTC (link)

What happened to her is horrible, despicable and should not be happening.
But not naming them has nothing to do with who they care about. In a way it also has nothing to do with this case specifically. They usually won't release the name of whoever for whatever reason regardless of what they did. They aren't releasing the name because it's "them", they're doing it because it's the law. Usually, the law won't release the name of accused AND victims.
It's not favoritism towards them. As far as I can find, they are also no releasing her name (correct me if I'm wrong on her name, though.) If they do release her name but not theirs, then yes, at that point, it is favoritism toward them.

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	sandglass 2012-02-14 04:35 am UTC (link)
	They arrested the victim. Clearly they're showing favoritism towards rapists. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistal 2012-02-14 05:19 am UTC (link)
	I'm not disagreeing with that, I actually agree with you. What I'm talking about is your comment regarding not naming the rapists being favoritism. It is not. Not talking about anything else but the "not releasing name due to legal reasons". (Reply to this)(Parent)

atropos_lee
2012-02-16 12:16 pm UTC (link)

The anonymity of the accused in this case is not to protect the accused so much as to ensure that any re-trial is not undermined by pre-trial publicity, which might result in convictions being overturned on appeal.

That said - the treatment of the victim is vile, vile, vile - and raises the horrible spectre of the "Magdalene Laundry" scandals of the 20th Century, which saw Irish rape victims condemned to life-long imprisonment in religious institutions.

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	mareen 2012-02-14 04:50 am UTC (link)
	I find the arrest of the victim sucks and is a horrible thing to do. But I agree with the law to not name any names and don't find anything bad about it. I also don't think one thing has anything to do with the other. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

jujubee
2012-02-14 05:06 am UTC (link)

While in the court of law you are innocent until proven guilty, as soon as you are arrested, the court of public opinion rules you guilty. I am very much in favor of withholding the names of the accused. (Example: My childhood pediatrician was arrested a few months ago for peeping in his neighbor's house and watching the 12-year-old girl dress. There's lots of shady stuff with the story, but whatever actually happened, the doctor, who was extremely well-respected for the past 30+ years, will never be able to practice again. If he is guilty, he shouldn't, but what the courts decide will not matter.)

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	pantyless_angel 2012-02-13 12:48 am UTC (link)
	D: What the hell? The victim blaming rape survivors are putt through is horrible enough, but to arrest her? What ultra fail justice system is that? (Reply to this)

	cyndra_falin 2012-02-13 01:16 am UTC (link)
	Excuse me while I go vomit. (Reply to this)

	zuppi 2012-02-13 02:06 am UTC (link)
	Horrible to see Ireland's disgusting treatment of victims of sexual violence/women continues... And people ask my why I don't ever want to go back there to live? (Reply to this)

	brennalarose 2012-02-13 03:11 am UTC (link)
	In what universe is that okay? Especially when the woman was clearly so distressed and emotionally scarred by the situation that she tried to kill herself! BRB, checking on whether I need to bring bolt cutters or just wire snips to go find this asshole. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	cyndra_falin 2012-02-13 04:43 am UTC (link)
	I suggest both. May I come with? I'll bring the blowtorch. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brennalarose 2012-02-13 08:03 pm UTC (link)
	Please do. And rocksalt rounds if you can. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kumquat_of_doom 2012-02-14 03:27 am UTC (link)
	sighs gets out the baseball bat of +5 feminism and the whisky The booze is for us, the bottle and the bat for those responsible. (Reply to this)(Parent)

bobafeis
2012-02-13 09:16 am UTC (link)

So, the stress of trying to do something may have been enough to push a woman to attempt suicide, then she was arrested for failing to do that thing, and now the judge seems to have zero compassion for the fact that he is in fact handing out more stress and pain to a woman who's obviously already had too much of it?

Seriously, this whole thing is horrific to read, but that one comment that it's her fault if she has to spend time in jail for this is rage-inducing. It's not her fucking fault, it's the fault of whoever it is that signed the arrest warrant for something so stupid... oh, wait.

Oh, RoI, glad to see you're keeping up that lovely attitude toward women.

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	varkias 2012-02-13 10:35 am UTC (link)
	D: D: D: What the fuck. That is horrifying and disgusting. (Reply to this)

herongale
2012-02-13 12:24 pm UTC (link)

It sort of makes you question why they prosecute rape at all in Ireland, doesn't it? It's clear that advocating/protecting victims isn't on the agenda, so why is rape a crime again?

(To be perfectly clear, I'm being facetious here, and think OF COURSE rape is a crime, a heinous crime. It's just that there's really no point in calling it a crime if victims are treated like perpetrators. )

What rape victim would ever want to come forward if it meant they might be coerced to cooperation later on?

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	harrylovesron 2012-02-13 02:07 pm UTC (link)
	"If she has to spend a long time in prison herself waiting for a retrial that's her fault." WHAT THE FUCK (Reply to this)(Thread)

	mirhanda 2012-02-13 05:42 pm UTC (link)
	Excuse me while I go smash things (Reply to this)(Parent)

	queencallipygos 2012-02-13 08:33 pm UTC (link)
	Why am I remembering this as a plot point from an old SVU episode?... (My comment is not meant to belittle the situation. It's just that focusing on side minutia is the only way I can cope.) (Reply to this)(Thread)

	ninwhore 2012-02-14 06:00 am UTC (link)
	It's probably been a plot point in about 5 of the episodes, really. (Reply to this)(Parent)