Laois councillors demand change for victims of sexual abuse
Image for illustration purposes
NOTES that emerge from counselling sessions with victims of sexual abuse should not be made available to defendants to exploit in a court of law.
The issue was discussed at last Monday’s meeting of Laois County Council during a motion urging the local authority to write to the minister for justice Jim O' Callaghan demanding the banning of the practice, stating it has the potentially to retraumatising victims and also risks victims who are in need of therapy avoiding counselling lest their private notes be surrendered to a court of law.
The latest meeting the council also heard that there was an ongoing public campaign pressing for the permanent privatisation of these particular notes and that a bill was moving through stages of the Dáil.
The proposal was brought forward by Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley, who said: "It is one of the cruellest, most retraumatising and degrading aspects of a trial."
Cllr Stanley highlighted the experience of a young man she knew who had been sexually assaulted, but whose counselling notes were, thankfully, kept out of the courtroom by "a very good judge."
However, the fear that their private discussions would be aired before the courtroom and their abuser was a significant source of stress for them, as it is a profound source of additional fear and anxiety for all victims, making it even more difficult for them to get justice and potentially take a dangerous person off the streets.
Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald, who seconded the motion, added her voice to the chorus of councillors condemning the practice. She said: ‘‘Would an abused person even go to a counsellor knowing that what they said could end up in court? Some told me they would still because they said that they wouldn't have been alive to go to the court if not for the counselling."
