Ellen Coyne: Using a victim's counselling notes in rape trials could deter them from seeking help from a therapist or even seeking justice

Whenever the Irish public looks in on a rape trial, it tends to not like what it sees. As most people know, getting a rapist into court in the first place already requires a victim to defy the odds.

Rape must be one of the only crimes where the severity of it is almost inversely proportional to its prosecution rates. A cold, aggressive and intimidating criminal justice system - as well as deeply damaging and enduring myths about sexual violence - means that many survivors will quite reasonably calculate that bringing their attacker to justice could well bring the victim to their knees in the process.

Read at Independent