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A child who was let down by the authorities after being raped.

  • 17-11-2017 2:18pm
    #1
    political analyst
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,687 ✭✭✭


    The following article is from 2013.

    https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/my-living-nightmare-at-the-hands-of-hse-child-rape-victim-29626573.html
    An 11-year-old girl, raped at knife-point by a male neighbour, has described her treatment by the Health Service Executive (HSE) as "a living nightmare". The girl, who is now 17, said she can never forgive the HSE for how it failed to provide the support she needed after her mother sought help for the horrific abuse.

    A damning investigation by Ombudsman Emily Logan found she was further traumatised by the potential "negligence" of the health service.
    It revealed she had to wait two months for a medical examination because the HSE could not find an experienced female doctor. It also failed to provide her with therapy and counselling to deal with the trauma.
    The investigation also found that:
    * It took two months for the HSE to arrange a medical examination of the child. This was needed to determine if the girl needed treatment and also to provide evidence for a criminal prosecution.
    The girl had insisted that she wanted to be examined by a female doctor and the HSE had trouble finding one who was suitable. This was compounded by "administrative inefficiency".

    * The girl did not receive a therapeutic assessment, which would help determine the effects of alleged abuse and her counselling needs.

    If I remember correctly, I heard at the time that the belated medical examination showed that she had been raped.

    In other cases of alleged child sexual abuse, the DPP prosecuted even though there was no forensic evidence of sexual abuse taking place because, presumably, the DPP regarded the alleged victim's testimony as credible.

    In the above case, there was evidence that she was raped and the victim told the authorities who raped her. The idea that she would accuse someone other than the man who raped her doesn't make sense. So why would the DPP still believe there was insufficient evidence?


Comments

  • #2
    Outlaw Pete
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,423 ✭✭✭✭Outlaw Pete


    Has to be more to the story than that.


  • #3
    political analyst
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,687 ✭✭✭political analyst


    Outlaw Pete wrote: »
    Has to be more to the story than that.

    Agreed.

    In 2009, I read that the alleged perpetrator repeated the crime against the girl after she reported the original crime. It begs the question: Why did her mother leave her in a position where she would be at risk of being attacked again?

    Obviously, the fact that none of the individuals involved can be publicly named means that there were factors involved that we are unaware of.


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