Sexual Offences

A judge of the High Court has challenged the Director of Public Prosecutions to take steps to address the "last minute" disclosure of records for upcoming rape and murder trials. Speaking in the Central Criminal Court during management of the trial list on Monday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott criticise

Rape prosecutions have declined to their lowest rate in more than five years, The Guardian reports. Figures reveal that a third of the 2,310 rape cases referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) between April and September of last year saw charges brought.

The prosecution of a schoolboy who took covert upskirt photos of two teachers has highlighted the inadequacy of Northern Ireland's sexual harassment laws, a trade union has said. The teenager, who took five pictures of two woman teachers at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School in 2015 and 2016, has been

The Department of Justice has published a consultation which includes proposed measures to strengthen the law to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse. The consultation invites views on current laws which protect children from sexual exploitation and proposed measures to strengthen som

A bill to introduce stricter penalties for repeat sexual offenders has cleared both stages in the Oireachtas. The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2018 introduces presumptive minimum sentences for repeat sex offenders and also corrects an anomaly in the law of incest by equalising the

The Victim Support at Court (V-SAC) charity has seen a 37 per cent increase in demand for its court accompaniment services in the last two years, the Irish Examiner reports. The latest figures from the charity reveal that it provided accompaniment services to 1,365 complainants, witnesses and family

A man who sought to undermine the credibility of a schoolgirl he sexually abused by introducing text messages she exchanged with a 13-year-old boy as evidence has lost an appeal against his conviction. The 54-year-old Tipperary man, whose details cannot be published to protect the victim's identity,

A man who was convicted of sexually assaulting his two-year-old son while the child’s mother was at work has lost an appeal against his conviction. Finding that the trial judge had correctly admitted hearsay evidence in the interests of justice, Lord Justice Ben Stephens also dismissed the app

Dublin employment lawyer Richard Grogan has called for a review in Ireland of the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in sexual harassment cases, The Times reports. Last year, Prime Minister Theresa May announced a UK review of the "unethical" use of NDAs by employers in settlements with women a

The Director of Public Prosecutions has launched proceedings for contempt against the Irish Independent following the collapse of a rape trial late last year. The proceedings against publisher Independent News & Media, Irish Independent editor Fionnán Sheehan and journalist Nicola Anderso

The Government's strategy to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is set to be reviewed to examine its success. Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan today announced the mid-term review of the Second National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence 2016-2021, which was launch

The public consultation on a major judge-led review of the administration of justice in serious sexual offence cases in Northern Ireland is drawing to a close. The last of three outreach events hosted by Sir John Gillen, a retired Court of Appeal judge, took place at Queen's University Belfast on Tu

Legislation criminalising "upskirting" in England and Wales has been passed. Upskirting is the practice of taking a photo underneath a person's skirt without their permission.

Dr Conor Hanly, lecturer at NUI Galway School of Law and author of the 2009 book Rape and Justice in Ireland, writes for Irish Legal News today on the issue of anonymity for rape defendants. The trial in Belfast of Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding for rape brought the issue of defendant anonymity int

The Department of Justice has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on the undertaking of a comprehensive national survey on the prevalence of sexual violence in Ireland. Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan confirmed that the MoU had been signed by Aidan O