TWO CHILDREN who were sexually abused have claimed before the High Court certain media reports of their attacker’s conviction resulted in their being identified, breached their constitutional right to privacy and led to them having to leave their home.
The two were abused by a man who later admitted charges of rape and sexual assault against them. They claim certain media reports, which named the man, led to their identification and this had “a catastrophic effect” on them.
The children have sued through their mother and cannot be identified for legal reasons.
They have brought proceedings seeking various orders and damages against Independent Star Ltd, the Dundalk Democrat Ltd and Independent Broadcasting Corporation Ltd, trading as LMFM Radio, over reports used after their abuser pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court.
They claim certain details used in the reports and broadcasts – including the name, age and address of the convicted man, plus the dates of the offences – had resulted in their being widely identified in their locality.
It is claimed the defendants published and broadcast information to the public without authority and breached Sections 7 and 8 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1981, which grants the right of anonymity to victims and or complainants in criminal cases involving offences of a sexual nature.
The children further claim their identification caused them considerable distress, upset and embarrassment.
The claims are denied.
Opening the case yesterday, Peter Finlay SC, for the two children, said the action was not about “fettering the rights of the press to report” but was about protecting the right to anonymity of complainants in cases involving sexual offences. Counsel said the press had an important role in relation to the administration of justice in public.
However, since 1908, there were prohibitions and restrictions on the reporting of court cases concerning sexual offences.
These include a right of victims and complainants not to be identified but, in this case, the children’s rights to privacy had been breached by the defendants.
Counsel said the reports had a “catastrophic effect” on the children. One of them in particular had stopped socialising, would not leave home and eventually the family had moved.
Mr Finlay said he wondered how many parents of young children in similar circumstances or victims of sexual offences would consider going to court if they thought their right to anonymity would not be observed.
Counsel said the convicted man had raped one of the children on a date some years ago and, during the course of a Garda investigation into that offence, it was discovered he had also sexually assaulted another sibling some years earlier.
The matter went before the courts and the man subsequently pleaded guilty to the offences.
The complainants’ mother had been informed by gardaí the children had a right to anonymity, counsel added.
Mr Finlay said the details in the reports of the man’s admissions were carried on hourly bulletins on LMFM as well as in the respective newspaper reports and resulted in everybody from the children’s home locality knowing “within hours” they were the ones who had made the complaints.
An uncle of the children managed to contact the radio station after which LMFM stopped carrying the reports, counsel added.
The case, before Mr Justice John Hedigan, continues.