Latest news with #sexualviolence
Irish Times
16 hours ago
- Irish Times
Former garda jailed for seven years for inciting men to rape colleague
A former garda who impersonated a colleague online and incited men to come to her home and rape her has been jailed for seven years. Shane Flanagan (39), with an address in Co Clare, impersonated the woman on a fetish website and on Facebook and engaged in graphic online discussions with users of these sites about sexual violence, rape, cannibalism, torture and physical violence. He also shared the woman's personal information including her address, photos of her and her daughters and screenshots from the Strava app which showed her running route. Flanagan pleaded guilty to two counts of inciting two men to rape the woman on dates between November and December 2020. He further pleaded guilty to six counts of endangering the woman and her daughters between 2018 and 2020, and to one count of possession of four images of child sexual abuse material, known in law as child pornography, on January 7th, 2021. He has no previous convictions. Imposing sentence at the Central Criminal Court on Tuesday, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said Flanagan's offending showed a 'breathtaking disregard' for the safety of the injured parties and that he would have been 'more alive to these dangers' due to his background as a garda. She imposed a sentence of eight years with the final 12 months suspended on strict conditions for three years. More to follow ...
BreakingNews.ie
16 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Former garda (39) jailed for impersonating colleague online and inciting men to rape her
A former garda who impersonated a colleague online and incited men to come to her home and rape her has been jailed for seven years. Shane Flanagan (39), with an address in Co Clare, impersonated the woman on a fetish website and on Facebook and engaged in graphic online discussions with users of these sites about sexual violence, rape, cannibalism, torture and physical violence. Advertisement He also shared the woman's personal information including her address, photos of her and her daughters and screenshots from the Strava app, showing her running route. Flanagan pleaded guilty to two counts of inciting two men to rape the woman on dates between November and December 2020. He further pleaded guilty to six counts of endangering the woman and her daughters between 2018 and 2020, and to one count of possession of four images of child sexual abuse material, known in law as child pornography, on January 7th, 2021. He has no previous convictions. Imposing sentence at the Central Criminal Court on Tuesday, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said Flanagan's offending showed a 'breath-taking disregard' for the safety of the injured parties and that he would have been 'more alive to these dangers' due to his background as a garda. She imposed a sentence of eight years with the final 12 months suspended on strict conditions for three years. More to follow...
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
The ‘honest belief' defence in rape cases rewards ignorance and insensitivity
There is still much work to be done before the human rights and dignity of victims of sexual violence in Ireland are truly realised. A persistent barrier to protecting victims' rights in sexual offence cases is the legal defence based on 'honest belief' that is open to those accused of rape. This means a person accused of rape may avoid conviction if the jury accepts that they honestly believed the other person was consenting – even if that belief was entirely unreasonable in the circumstances. While the Supreme Court has clarified that juries need not accept 'obviously false' accounts, the law still permits acquittal based solely on the accused's subjective perception of events. As it stands, the 'honest belief' defence does not require that the belief be 'reasonable', and relies entirely on the accused's perception of whether the victim was consenting. This undermines the core principle of mutual, meaningful consent that is enshrined in the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017, which defines consent as 'freely and voluntarily given'. READ MORE Some other areas of criminal law measure a person's actions or beliefs against what a reasonable person would have done. However, when it comes to rape, an accused person can rely on their own interpretation of events, even if there is no reasonable explanation for their belief, and even if they took no steps to establish or confirm consent. The Law Reform Commission recommended changing to a 'reasonable belief' standard in its comprehensive report in 2019. It pointed out that a complainant's silence – which may have derived from fear and trauma – could be interpreted incorrectly as consent, and that an honest belief on this basis might even encourage people not to ascertain consent. The commission concluded that arguments against the current law far outweighed arguments in favour of it. Prof Tom O'Malley said that the law as it stands 'places a premium on ignorance, lack of consideration or insensitivity'. At the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre , we support a legislative change that introduces an objective reasonableness standard, as well as a requirement that appropriate actions have been taken to confirm consent. Such changes will mean a closer alignment with our existing statutory definition of consent. For most victims and survivors, this reform would be welcome and necessary. Honest belief as a defence centres the accused's subjective viewpoint, often at the expense of the victim's experience and agency. Reporting a rape takes immense courage and determination, yet survivors must navigate a legal system that is often very challenging. When the law allows the accused to invoke honest belief without any need to demonstrate that this belief was reasonable or based on any concrete steps to establish consent, it can compound survivors' feelings of disempowerment and erode their confidence that their voice matters. If we truly wish to encourage more survivors to seek justice, this reform would be an important positive step. In Ireland, we have come close to modernising this law once before. We strongly supported the honest-belief reforms in the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill, published in July 2023. It would have replaced the current defence with a requirement that belief in consent must be objectively reasonable. It also proposed that juries must consider whether the accused took steps to ascertain consent, which might include verbal confirmation or other clear indication of agreement. In effect, the planned changes enshrined the question: would a reasonable person, in the same situation, with the same knowledge, have believed there was consent? These reforms were necessary and proportionate. They reflected both public understanding and the legal reality of what genuine consent entails, as well as the lived experience of survivors of sexual violence. [ 'Scale of our sexual violence epidemic' shown by record calls and texts to national rape crisis helpline Opens in new window ] Adopting an objective standard would align Ireland with international best practice. Countries including England and Wales already require a reasonable objective belief of consent, for instance. It would also reflect the principles of the Istanbul Convention, which focuses on whether the alleged victim freely and voluntarily agreed to sexual activity, as assessed in the full context – not just on the accused's own belief. Similarly, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) urges states to eliminate laws that permit subjective or unreasonable interpretations of consent. These international bodies recognise that in matters as serious as rape, subjective belief – no matter how honestly claimed – is not enough. In recent years, Ireland has taken progressive steps towards addressing gender-based violence and supporting victims. The national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence sets out ambitious goals and legislative reform is central to achieving them. So we were very concerned to learn in November 2023 that the honest belief provisions were being dropped from the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill. We warned that removing these provisions weakened the legislation and we urged then-minister for justice, Helen McEntee , to reconsider. She clarified that these provisions were only being cut so as not to hold up the rest of the Bill, while her department addressed considerations on honest belief arising from a recent Supreme Court judgment. McEntee committed to drafting a stand-alone Sexual Offences Bill that would mean the proposed reforms would apply to both rape and sexual assault cases, as flagged by the judgment. Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan is progressing the matter with the Attorney General and should move swiftly to introduce legislation that would ensure belief in consent can only be a defence if it was both honestly and reasonably held. If the new Bill is the robust piece of legislation it ought to be, it must receive cross-party support from members of the Oireachtas when it is published. It will send a clear, consistent message that consent must be mutual and ongoing, based on communication and not on assumption or a one-sided perception. Rachel Morrogh is chief executive of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. Anyone affected by sexual violence at any time can get free, confidential support on the 24-hour National Helpline 1800 77 8888
Fox News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Evening Edition: Hamas' Use Of Sexual Violence During Oct. 7th Terror Attack Exposed
A new report details the sexual assault, mutilation and gang rapes perpetrated by the Hamas terror group against Israel during the October 7th attack. The report was authored by 'The Dinah Project', a global initiative to highlight sexual violence being used in conflict zones, and was led by led Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a women's rights activist and law professor at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel. The report wants other human rights groups to understand that Hamas weaponized sexual violence for further intimidation and they are demanding the United Nations call out the Palestinian terror group for it. FOX's Eben Brown speaks with Doctor Qanta Ahmed, world renown physician based in New York and she is a journalist and a human and women's rights activist, who says it is difficult to find the words to describe the horrors that were used during the October 7th terror attack but we cannot shy away from the stories. *** Listeners be aware, this segment contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence and mutilation perpetrated during the October 7th Hamas terror attack on Israel. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
BBC News
6 days ago
- BBC News
In a city ruled by gangs, young rape survivor raises baby she was told to abort
Warning: This story contains accounts of rape and other violence that readers may find was 17 years old when a gang attacked her neighbourhood in the Haitian capital, strokes her baby daughter, asleep in her lap, while describing how armed men abducted her as she tried to flee, and held her for over two months."They raped me and beat me every single day. Several different men. I didn't even know their names, they were masked," says the young woman, whose name we have changed to protect her identity. "Some of the things they did to me are too painful to share with you.""I fell pregnant, they kept telling me I must abort the pregnancy and I said 'no'. This baby could be the only one I ever have."She managed to escape while the gang was caught up in fighting to maintain territory. Now 19, she has spent the past year raising her daughter in a safe house in a suburb of the city. The safe house is home to at least 30 girls and young women who sleep in bunk beds in colourfully painted is the oldest rape survivor here. The youngest is just 12. Playing and dancing on the balcony in a blue polka dot dress, she looks much younger than her age, having suffered from malnutrition in the past. Staff tell us she has been raped multiple and other sexual violence is surging in Haiti as armed gangs expand their control across Port-au-Prince and Caribbean island nation has been engulfed in a wave of gang violence since the assassination in 2021 of the then-president, Jovenel Moï is hard to measure the scale of sexual violence. Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) runs a clinic in central Port-au-Prince for women who have experienced sexual abuse. Data it has shared exclusively with the BBC shows patient numbers have nearly tripled since gangs are known for sweeping into neighbourhoods and killing dozens of people. MSF says multiple gang rapes of women and girls are often part of these large-scale attacks. From survivors' accounts, it is clear that gangs have been using rape to terrorise and subjugate entire BBC has challenged gang leaders about accounts of killings and rapes. One previously told us they do not control the actions of their members and believe they have a "duty" to fight the state. Another said "when we are fighting we are possessed - we are no longer human". "Patients have started to share very, very difficult stories since 2021," says Diana Manilla Arroyo, MSF's head of mission in Haiti."Survivors talk about two or four or seven, or up to 20 aggressors," she says, adding that more women now say they have been threatened with weapons or knocked are also reporting more frequently that their assailants are under 18, she a drop-in centre in another part of the city, four women – ranging in age from late 20s to 70 – describe being attacked in front of their children and husbands."Our neighbourhood was attacked, I went back home only to find my mum, my dad, my sister, all were murdered. They killed them and then burnt the house down, with them inside it," one woman surveying her devastated home, she was about to leave the neighbourhood when she encountered gang members. "They raped me – I had my six-year-old with me. They raped her too," she continues. "Then they killed my younger brother in front of us.""Whenever my daughter looks at me, she's sad and crying." The other women recount attacks that follow a similar pattern – murder, rape and violence is just one element of the crisis that has engulfed Haiti. UN agencies say more than a tenth of the population – 1.3 million people – have fled their homes, and half the population faces acute has had no elected leadership since the assassination of Moïse. A Transitional Presidential Council and a series of prime ministers it has appointed are tasked with running the country and organising gangs have formed an alliance, turning their weapons on the Haitian state rather than each we last visited in December, the situation has deteriorated. Hundreds of thousands more people have been displaced. More than 4,000 people have been killed in the first half of 2025, compared to 5,400 in the whole of 2024, according to the UN. The gangs are estimated to have increased their control from 85% to 90% of the capital, seizing key neighbourhoods, trade routes and public infrastructure, despite efforts by a Kenyan-led, UN-backed security join the international force as they patrol a gang-controlled area, but within minutes, one of the tyres on their armoured vehicle is shot out and the operation of the force rarely leave their armoured vehicles. Experts say the gangs continue to acquire powerful weapons and maintain the upper recent months, the Haitian authorities have contracted mercenaries to help wrest back control.A source within the Haitian security forces told the BBC that private military companies, including one from the US, are operating on the ground, and using drones to attack gang showed us drone footage he says is of one gang leader, Ti Lapli, being targeted in an explosion. He says Ti Lapli was left in a critical condition, though the BBC has not been able to confirm this. But around the city, the fear of the gangs remains. In many neighbourhoods, vigilante groups are taking security into their own hands, further increasing the numbers of young men with weapons on the streets."We're not going to let them [the gangs] come here and kill us – steal everything we have, burn cars, burn houses, kill kids," says a man using the name "Mike".He says he operates with a group in Croix-des-Prés, a bustling market area close to gang-controlled gunfire rings out in the distance, no-one flinches. People here are used to says the gangs pay young boys to join, and set up checkpoints where they demand money from residents passing through."Of course everyone is afraid," he tells us. "We feel alone trying to protect the women and children. As the gangs keep spreading, we know our area could be next." Humanitarian agencies say the situation is deteriorating and women are among the hardest hit, with many of them facing the double trauma of sexual violence and Castro, the regional director of the UN's World Food Programme, says Port-au-Prince "is the worst place in the world to be a woman".Women here are also likely to feel the impact of cuts to humanitarian aid programmes, she has long been one of the largest recipients of funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which President Donald Trump has slashed, dubbing it "wasteful".When we visited in June, Ms Castro said the WFP was distributing its last stocks of US-funded food provision protects women, she explained, because it saves them from having to be out in the streets begging or looking for workers here also fear that cuts may soon affect support for victims of violence in places like the safe house where Helene Ms Manilla Arroyo from MSF says funding for contraception has also been reduced: "Many of our patients already have children. Many of them are under the age of 18 with children. The risk of pregnancy represents many, many new challenges for them."Helene and other women in the safe house often sit and chat together on a balcony that looks out across Port-au-Prince, but many of them are too afraid to leave the security of its does not know how she will support her young daughter as she grows up."I always dreamt of going to school, to learn and to make something of myself," she says. "I always knew I'd have children, just not this young."
