Lack of officers seescity rape unit closed

Marie Brown, who works with victims of domestic and sexual violence in Londonderry, recently told the Stormont Justice Committee that the traumatised victim found “the whole process and her treatment really, really poor.”

She made the comments during a recent evidence session on ‘Criminal Justice Services available to Victims and Witnesses of Crime in Northern Ireland’ and revealed Foyle Women’s Aid have evidence of rapes every weekend. She also said a lot of teenagers have been raped in the city recently.

Referring to the former Londonderry PSNI rape unit at Maydown, she claimed that even when it was functional there was only one forensic medical officer available to cover all services and 40 per cent of the time she physically could not be there.

“I would like to see more sexual violence services. We have very worrying stats about rapes on a weekend basis. That is happening locally and, I am sure, across Northern Ireland.

“Some women say that they are going nowhere because of barriers such as travel and having to sit waiting for nine to 10 hours after they have been raped. We used to have Maydown,” she told MLAs.

She said the loss of the local unit meant women were now faced with a traumatic journey to Belfast.

“We have lost that now and its local services. I have had two victims come through. One actually went to the local newspapers because she wanted to talk about her experience of sitting for nine hours in a police station in Belfast after she had been raped.

“She eventually withdrew from the process; she found the whole process and her treatment really, really poor. She found the police officers who brought her to Belfast very supportive, but said that she was put in a car with two male strangers,” said Ms Brown.

“What was her small talk going to be for nine hours while waiting for those services? We used to have a service in Maydown. Now that that has been pulled, we are going backwards instead of forwards. That is a huge barrier,” she said.

The local support worker later explained that the reason for the withdrawal of the Londonderry rape unit was simply a lack of staff, namely forensic medical officers.

“One reason that Maydown was pulled was the lack of forensic medical officers. I went with the commander at the time to look at a practice in the South where forensic nurses had been trained up to do the necessary forensics.

“That seems to be working in the South. We wondered why that process was not happening in the North. Even when we did have a forensic medical officer, we had only one, who said that she was covering all the services. We pointed out that for 40 per cent of the time she physically could not be there. So, 40 per cent of victims did not have that service when they needed it,” she said.

Mrs Brown asked MLAs what services were available to women who have been raped at 2am on a Saturday?

“Sexual violence is one of the most heinous crimes. The understanding and support needs to be there, even very basic practical support to tell people what to do, when to shower, that they can shower and to get them to a unit.

“It is very basic stuff. There is no pathway here. What happens if you are raped at 2.00 am on a Saturday? Who is there to tell you what to do? Recently, a lot of teenagers have been raped in this town. There have been difficulties around evidence gathering and convicting rapists. That has to be a whole inquiry in itself,” she commented.