New legislation should be introduced so video recordings of statements made to gardaí by domestic abuse victims can become admissible as evidence at trials, the Garda Inspectorate has said.
The recommendation is contained within the inspectorate’s latest report, which focuses on the Garda’s approach to prevention and prosecution of domestic abuse, as well as victim support. The inspectorate is the Garda oversight body.
In recent years, there has been a year-on-year increase in reporting rates of domestic abuse, with gardaí last year receiving more than 65,000 domestic abuse-related contacts.
The inspectorate’s report noted many victims have to attend court to give evidence, but some “may decide not to do so due to the trauma and stress involved”.
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Current laws allow a child’s video-recorded statement to be admissible at a trial in certain circumstances. The report said some other jurisdictions have made a similar provision available to adults in domestic abuse cases.
“If permitted in Ireland, video-recorded statements from victims and witnesses in domestic abuse cases could help to mitigate some of the challenges of giving evidence in person,” it said.
“The inspectorate recommends that the Department of Justice consider introducing legislation that allows a video recording of a statement made by a victim or witness during interview with a member of the Garda Síochána or other competent person in relation to a domestic abuse offence to be admissible as evidence at trial.”
The inspectorate also said 39 per cent of victims it spoke to had not reported their most recent incident of domestic abuse to gardaí. Of those who did, 48 per cent were dissatisfied with how it was dealt with, while just 35 per cent were satisfied.
The report identified shortcomings around reporting at a station, including a lack of privacy and different standards of treatment depending on whether a victim was accompanied by a support worker.
Elsewhere, an examination of a sample of incidents involving victims who had three or more domestic-motivated incidents found “no change” in the Garda response even though they were subject to further acts of violence, and in some cases escalating violence.
“The lack of evidence of victims’ needs being reassessed or of any variation or escalation of protection measures for repeat victims was a concern,” the inspectorate said.
On domestic violence orders, which can exclude perpetrators from the home or require them to have no contact with the victim, gardaí were said to have an “inconsistent level of understanding” of the different types of orders.
Unlike police services in some other jurisdictions, the Garda is unable to issue an immediate short-term notice to exclude a perpetrator from the home or apply to a court for a substantive order that extends the period of exclusion.
“These powers would increase the ability of the Garda to protect victims,” the report said. “As such, the inspectorate recommends the Department of Justice introduce legislation to allow the Garda to issue short-term exclusion notices and apply for substantive orders.”
More generally, the inspectorate noted that, while the Garda had indicated it was going to develop an overarching strategy setting out how it will prevent domestic abuse and protect victims, this was not progressed.
It said the Garda should develop a “whole of organisation” domestic abuse strategy.
In a statement, the Garda said it will examine the report in detail, particularly the feedback from the victims of domestic abuse.
