The legal systems in Northern Ireland and the Republic need to change, a survivor of rape told a rally in Cork in support of the young woman at the centre of the Belfast rape trial. Dutch woman, Tjitske de Vries told the rally attended by over 300 people at Cork City Hall she was raped eight years ago by two men while on holiday in France. Although she received great support from a medical centre in Spain where she went for treatment, she never reported the attack. “We have to look at changing our legal system and his toxic masculinity. Cllr Fiona Ryan of Solidarity told the rally which was attended by both men and women, many carrying yellow flowers in solidarity with the young woman in the Belfast rape trial, that people were disgusted at a legal system “that puts victims, not defendants, on trial”

Source: The Irish Times March 29, 2018 17:03 UTC