"My counselling notes were taken and used by the defence, not to help the alleged perpetrator at the time. They were used to belittle me as a mother, as a partner and as a woman. They weren't used as evidence, absolutely not. In my case, the prosecution didn't talk about my PTSD, my nightmares, my flashbacks. They didn't talk about anything like that."
"Jim O'Callaghan could start to listen. The changes he's talking about bringing in - where he's saying only under extreme circumstances will counselling notes be looked at, isn't good enough."
"The defence used the notes. And it's absolutely, it's so horrendous and dangerous and it's actually causing victims psychological harm."
Survivors of sexual abuse are calling for participation in International Women's Day marches across Ireland, holding photographs representing their pre-abuse selves. The movement draws inspiration from Epstein survivors and addresses a critical legal issue: defence teams accessing survivors' private therapy notes during trials. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has urged Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan to establish stronger legal presumptions against such disclosures. Survivors and therapists have protested proposed legislative changes as insufficient, submitting shredded counselling notes to the Department of Justice. Paula Doyle, a rape survivor whose therapy notes were misused in court to undermine her credibility rather than serve evidentiary purposes, emphasizes that current protections cause psychological harm to victims.
#sexual-assault-survivors #legal-protection #therapy-confidentiality #international-womens-day #justice-reform
Read at Irish Independent
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