The interim CEO of Fermanagh Women's Aid has criticised the language used by manager of the Clinton Centre in Enniskillen who was accused of "victim-blaming" by a judge.

Keith McNair was giving evidence on behalf of Alioune Sow during a hearing at Enniskillen Magistrates Court.

Sow was using the Clinton Centre as a bail address and was charged with abducting a child.

Mr. McNair, who took over the centre in 2020, said in his evidence: "Ali is not the issue. This girl is persistently pursuing him. The collective response has unfortunately not worked. She’s chasing him.”

Kerri Flood, of Fermanagh Women's Aid said Mr. McNair's language was "concerning" and "fundamentally wrong".

"In terms of the actual language used, whether it's adult women, or whether we're talking about very particular vulnerable scenarios at risk of child sexual exploitation. For anyone to frame a child and a vulnerable child at that, a child who's been stated as being at risk of immediate harm, to try and reframe that as she's a predator is so, so concerning. 

"And it's a huge part of why victims, both child and adult, don’t disclose, because there's a fundamental thread that I will not be believed. 

"And how we treat young females in particular, and this kind of sexualization of them and the infants that they are, you know that they pursue predators is just so glaringly fundamentally wrong and puts other victims at risk," said Ms. Flood who added that using this type of language removes the incentive to report.

The comments made by Mr. McNair feed into the profile of abuse said Ms. Flood: "We know that for abuse to thrive, we need a motivated perpetrator, we need a vulnerable victim, and we need an absence of social guardians.

"So we need people to not step in, in order for this to happen. And that's exactly what these kinds of comments feed into."

Ms. Flood commended the work of the PSNI in trying to keep the young person involved safe and it was also the responsibility for "the adults in the room and the services" around these young people to protect them. She also praised the judge for stepping in and voicing his concerns about the comments.

During the hearing, Deputy District Judge Trevor Browne said: “This is extremely troubling. A thread has been formed that this is somehow the child’s fault, and she’s pursuing the defendant.

"She may have formed an attachment, but she’s a recognised vulnerable young female.

"I have considerable alarm around victim-blaming and claiming she’s the predator.

"She must be protected because of her vulnerability, which perhaps leads her into inappropriate attachments with inappropriate people.”

On these comments, Ms. Flood said: "When I read it, I was so relieved, I suppose, because this might be one case, but these cases are watched by women, by other vulnerable young people, and to know that our judicial system won't allow this kind of language and mischaracterization is really, really important.

"And it might be a small step in a local court, but it's an important one in terms of restoring faith of criminal justice because that's what we need."

Ms. Flood also added that Fermanagh Women's Aid would have safeguarding concerns around the accommodation at the Clinton Centre being used as a bail address which is close to a school. But she added that they would be willing to work with the organisation around their safeguarding policy.

"I don't know what the organization is, I don't know how it's funded. Don't know what safeguards, but certainly Women's Aid have a concern about safeguarding around accommodation, which, to my understanding, is for educational purposes and research being used as a bail address.

"And we would be more than willing to provide training to work with them around safeguarding policy, as I'm sure many others would."

Mr. McNair was contacted for a response to the comments he made during the court hearing but he would not comment at that time.