Rape and other alleged sexual offences accounted for 26 of the 36 cases which appeared on the March list for trial at the monthly listing session at the Central Criminal Court. Trial dates were fixed up to June 2002 by Mr Justice Smith.
This predominance of sex cases in the March list continued a trend in recent years in which sex cases have occasionally accounted for more than 80 per cent of the total coming before the Central Criminal Court.
Four sample listings from 2000 illustrate this: rape and other sex offences accounted for 42 of the 53 cases on the October list; 29 of the 33 on the June list; 31 of the 37 on the March list; and 26 of the 34 on last January's list.
The November 2000 list was exceptional, with 13 murder and 15 sex assault cases. There were 63 sex offence cases as against nine murder cases in the October 1999 listings.
Figures for cases received by the Central Criminal Court in recent years are: 1996, 73; 1997, 100; 1998, 159; 1999, 163; 2000, 156. Rape cases in these years were: 1996, 48; 1997, 72; 1998, 130; 1999, 130; 2000, 113.
The court disposed of 98 rape cases in 1999 and 94 in 2000. Rape cases dealt with in the preceding three years were: 1996, 48; 1997, 51; 1998, 86. There were 29 murder cases dealt with in 1999 and 33 last year.
One of the 156 cases which came into the list in 2000 was under the heading "other" (i.e. other than rape or murder) and was for an alleged intimidation of an official in the Chief State Solicitor's office. The accused was acquitted earlier this year.
