Delay, under-reporting and complainants withdrawing from cases are major difficulties in relation to sexual offences in Northern Ireland. Rugby player Stuart Olding was cleared of rape following a nine-week trial in Belfast last year. He proposes a “new radical non-adversarial approach to cross-examination initially for children and vulnerable adults, extending the definition of vulnerable to include all serious sexual victims”. “Some have had to leave Northern Ireland, some spoke of being vilified on the street. They are the envy of other nations, but in the area of serious sexual offences there is urgent and detailed repair required,” he says.

Source: The Irish Times January 05, 2019 00:05 UTC