One in four sex assaults reported to gardai last year happened over a decade ago, according to a new report.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released this morning show that a quarter of those who reported the offence last year were coming forward 10 years or more after the attack had taken place.
More than four in five victims (82%) who reported sexual violence incidents were females.
According to the report “there is sometimes a separation in time between when a crime occurred and when it was reported or became known to An Garda Siochana.”
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It went on: “This was found to be a particular feature of reported sexual offences which are sometimes not reported by victims for what can be a substantial period of time after the offence had taken place.
“63% of victims, 1,754, who reported sexual violence crimes to An Garda Siochana in 2018 reported offences which are recorded as having taken place less than one year prior to the reporting of the crime.
“The remaining 37% of victims, 1,017, reported offences which occurred more than one year prior to their reporting to An Garda Siochana, and the gap between the reporting date and the date of occurrence of the crime showed considerable variation.
“Indeed, a quarter, 25%, of sexual violence victims (683 victims) who reported crimes in 2018 reported offences which occurred more than ten years earlier.”
And shockingly the vast majority according to the report (56%) were under the age of 18 when the incident occurred.
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While sexual violence cases involved mostly women, last year 77% of homicide cases and 59% of assault incidents involved males.
There were 46 victims of murder or manslaughter and 28 victims arising from Dangerous Driving Leading to Death, 75% of which were males.
Almost two thirds of victims of assault and related offences in 2018 were aged between 18 and 44.
And 14% of victims of assault and related offences were aged under the age of 18.
One of the experts who compiled the statistics, Sam Scriven said: “This new release provides statistics on the number of recorded victims of crime for some serious incident categories, and some context into the reporting of such crimes to An Garda Siochana during 2018.
“In 2018, 77% of homicide victims and 59% of victims of reported physical assault and related offences were males. However, more than four in five victims (82%) of reported sexual violence incidents were females.
“The reporting of sexual violence encompasses the reporting of incidents which occurred recently as well as the reporting of historic cases of sexual violence.
“In 2018, 63% of victims of sexual violence reported incidents which had taken place within one year, and almost 90% of these victims were females.
“A quarter of sexual violence reported in 2018 referred to incidents which took place ten or more years prior to being reported to An Garda Siochana, and the vast majority of these cases took place when the victim was aged under 18 years.”
