Kerrie Flood writes about domestic violence and conviction rates

It should go without saying that not one of us would ever wish to see innocent people being wrongly convicted.

We have all watched convictions being quashed for a wide variety of reasons, such as a web of insufficient evidence, a context of pre-existing bias, media pressure to ‘wrap it up’, a scapegoat in the wrong place at the wrong time, an unregulated use of so-called experts, the introduction of pseudo-scientific concepts, duress, collusion, corruption and unreliable witness statements have been untangled.

There is a story that a professor – in response to being told it was better for ten guilty people to go free, as above – asked the question: “Better for who?”

It is telling that no such ratio was rolled out during the witch trials. That is maybe a topic for another day.

It is only right that our criminal courts presume innocence until guilt is proven beyond all reasonable doubt. However, my thoughts this week are more ethical questions than legal ones.

There are many cases that never make it to court, and more still that never make it to the PPS, more that do not make it to the PSNI, and even more that are never spoken about out loud.

More than 70 per cent of Fermanagh Women’s Aid referrals will never come to the attention of the PSNI, and yet the events widely described by women are clearly crimes.

Crimes of which their attackers are not innocent, despite the absence of any conviction.

Blathnaid Raleigh recently bravely waived her right to anonymity so that Johnny Moran could be named publicly as the man who raped her in a devastating attack in 2019.

Let’s imagine an alternative reality where Moran was declared “Not guilty”, or where no prosecution was brought.

The absence of a conviction would not have erased the attack and wound back the clock as if nothing had happened.

While he would have been innocent in the eyes of the law, in lay persons’ terms, he would still have done it.

The impact on Blathnaid is just as real, with or without the verdict to back it up.

Natasha O’Brien waived her right to anonymity a few weeks earlier so that Cathal Crotty could be named as the man who attacked her on May 29, 2022.

More than naming her attacker, Natasha – like Blathnaid – also shone a light on the institutions which came to the defence of these men.

Senator Tom Clonan, a former Irish Army officer, told the Oireachtas that “every private and public organisation or institution will have people within their ranks who are capable of committing violent acts”.

Crotty’s Superior Commandant gave evidence that he was an “exemplary” soldier.

Similarly, Johnny Moran was provided with a character reference by one of his colleagues – a move that his former employer has been quick to distance itself from, as being given in a personal capacity.

Blathnaid noted that members of her family left the rugby club of which Moran was also a member, and where he continued to play for after the attack.

Both of these men were convicted.

I am glad that both Blathnaid and Natasha have seen justice served, although one of the sentences leaves a lot to be desired, in my opinion.

We can say with clarity that they were and are guilty, and yet they benefited greatly from the support of other institutions.

The men continued about their lives, while their victims dealt with injuries, trauma and isolation.

In 2022/23, the PPS received 1,858 files involving a sexual offence. Files received included 1,936 suspects, of which 705 were charged or reported for rape.

Close to 75 per cent of these did not proceed to prosecution; 97 defendants were dealt with in the Crown Court for an offence of rape, of which only 27 were convicted – that’s a 3.8 per cent conviction rate.

That is one of the saddest statistics I have ever read.

I will remind you that there will have been many more instances which never come to the attention of the courts.

I do not for one minute believe that 96 per cent of rape allegations are false; rather, I believe that guilty men are benefiting disproportionately from Blackstone’s ratio, as they do when accused of other forms of violence against women and girls.

There is more to discuss than the prosecution rates.

While I would always encourage any victim of a crime to report, the process is not easy, and justice is not always served.

Where it is served, it does not always provide the end outcome that we would want.

I agree with Senator Clonan: that many institutions have members capable of violence. It can be extremely difficult to screen these individuals out.

But when allegations come to light, we each have a choice. We can either swoop in behind alleged abusers with glowing reports and character references, or we can remember that our institutions are not courtrooms.

We can instead err on the side of caution to protect the public by limiting further access to potential victims.

We can develop robust processes to ensure that rather than protecting abusers, our spaces protect the most vulnerable.

We will all remember famously that in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder, the MET believed they were dealing with a few ‘bad apples’.

It now transpires that two to three officers face charges every week.

It should not fall to Natasha and Blathnaid to expose their abusers by waiving their right to anonymity.

It should fall to each of us to ensure that abusers cannot thrive in our ranks.

Make no mistake – this is not a call for trial by media, rather, a word of caution on rushing to the defence of those accused.

As I tumbled down my rabbit hole of information to write this week’s column, I came across a Freedom of Information request submitted to the Metropolitan Police involving false allegations of domestic abuse that I would like to share with you.

In 2021, there were 71,984 offences of domestic abuse with female victims, of which only 15 (0.02 per cent) were flagged as false.

From looking at the numbers in relation to violence against women and girls, it would seem there are indeed a great many guilty men going free.

Perhaps when women said loudly not too long ago #Ibelieveher, they weren’t far wrong.

Kerrie Flood is Development Manager at Fermanagh Women’s Aid.