MORE than one woman is raped every day in Northern Ireland and the number of men reporting the crime has increased sevenfold since the law changed to identify men as victims of rape.
Statistics revealed by Security Minister Paul Goggins showed that 457 people were victims of rape last year, with 410 of them being women.
The figures for last year show a rise of 66 incidents of rapes from the previous year and in the past 10 yea
rs the figure has averaged at 274 rapes every year.
When first deemed victims in 2003, following the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2003, men who reported being raped numbered just six.
Last year’s figures showed that 47 men said they were raped.
Prompted by a parliamentary question by Economy Minister Nigel Dodds, Mr Goggins’ response broke down the figures for rape victims over the last 10 years, showing categories for age and sex.
Responding to the figures, Mr Dodds said he had “no doubt there is a greater reporting of crime than ever before”.
“This is a very serious crime and it continues to be a major issue for society that causes enormous trauma for its victims,” he said.
“We want to send a message to the perpetrators that the courts and the police are doing everything in their power to catch these people and put them away for a very long time.”
Spokeswoman for the Rape Crisis Centre in Northern Ireland Eileen Calder said her organisation’s statistics showed a “dramatic rise” in the number of people seeking help from the support service.
“Whether or not that can be interpreted as being proof of more sexual violence or that more people are prepared to report we can’t be sure but more people are prepared to come forward for counselling.
“It’s not scientific but in my experience I have seen quite a lot of girls, aged 14 to 17, who are less likely to blame themselves for being raped which is a good thing,” she said.
See Morning View, page 14
