People who are raped may refuse vital counselling for fear that what they say may be used against them in court, CVOCNI Geraldine Hanna warns
Rape victims are being forced to choose between healthcare and justice, Northern Ireland's victims of crime commissioner has said.
Ms Hanna said she was concerned that this was putting some victims off accessing "crucial therapeutic support" and was causing those who avail of support to "censor what they say for fear of how it may be used against them".
She said disclosing excessive amounts of data which can then be used in court by the defence, has the "triple effect of retraumatising victims, making some victims reluctant to access crucial counselling services, or resulting in victims censoring their accounts of their experience to their counsellors in the knowledge that it may be used in court"."For crimes which are already underreported and have lower prosecution rates, this is even more concerning," she added.
Joanne Barnes, chief executive of Nexus NI, which supports people affected by sexual trauma told BBC NI's Good Morning Ulster that the charity receives requests to access clients' counselling notes on a daily basis. "We've had to take this action to try and strengthen the confidentiality, respect and dignity that our clients deserve.Nexus is seeking a standardised arrangement and is happy to agree that a client has attended counselling but without the need to share the details of past sexual history.
"I'm not sure that we need to be going into the nitty gritty detail of an individual's experience and why a defence barrister needs access to that.
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