A review of the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service’s handling of three cases linked to a rape allegedly carried out by a senior IRA figure and allegations that the terror group covered up the crime will be published after the election.
Mairia Cahill’s claims that a west Belfast IRA activist raped her as a teenager in 1997 and that the organisation hushed up the sex abuse has rocked Sinn Féin in recent months.
Cahill’s allegations have prompted others who were close to the IRA and Sinn Féin to come forward claiming they too were prevented from reporting sex abuse involving some senior republicans.
Sir Keir Starmer, the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service, was called in by the PPS to investigate three cases related to Cahill’s claims that the legal authorities and the police failed to investigate her allegations properly.
In a statement the PPS in Belfast said: “The director is committed to publishing the report at the earliest point. The publication date will be finalised with Sir Keir following the general election.”
Starmer was asked to investigate three connected cases involving sex abuse and terrorist-related charges following Cahill’s claims.
Cahill, 33, is the grand-niece of Joe Cahill - one of the founders of the Provisional IRA. She said that as a teenager in 1997 she was raped by an IRA member from west Belfast.
Rather than allow her to go to the police, she claimed the IRA held its own inquiry and subjected her to interrogation before forcing her to confront her alleged attacker.
The man she accused was acquitted after Cahill withdrew her evidence. Charges against four others allegedly involved in the IRA’s internal investigation were also dropped.
Cahill said she withdrew cooperation because she had lost faith in the criminal justice system particularly after she was made to wait four years before her case went to court.
Speaking to the Guardian on Thursday, Cahill said: “I would expect them to publish [the Starmer report] in its entirety. I would also expect that any failings would be addressed quickly by the director of public prosecutions to ensure that no other victim has to go through a case in the way I did.”
