Fine Gael, children's rights bodies and rape counselling services have called for the reintroduction of an absolute offence of having sexual intercourse with a child, following the acquittal yesterday of a Dublin man who had sex with a 13-year-old girl.
The man, who had consensual sexual intercourse with the girl in Dublin 2001, was found not guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court because of his belief as to her age at the time. The jury took less than an hour last Wednesday [April 24th] to acquit him of sexually assaulting her.
The now 27-year-old man - referred to as "Mr K" - was the first man to offer the defence of "honest mistake", that he had a genuine belief the girl was old enough to legally consent.
He was among a number of men originally indicted for having unlawful carnal knowledge until the Supreme Court ruled in May 2006, in the case known as "Mr C", that the 1935 law under which they were charged, was unconstitutional because it did not permit a defence of genuine belief as to age.
Fine Gael’s spokesman on children Alan Shatter said the ‘K’ case highlights the “inadequacies of Ireland’s child protection laws and the need for constitutional change”.
“The law in this area can only properly be reformed if a constitutional referendum takes place to restore an offence of absolute liability in such circumstances," he said.
Labour Party spokesman on constitutional issues, Brendan Howlin, said it was important that there be "proper consideration given to the legislative and constitutional measures required".
“The protection of children requires action from a variety of state agencies, the Oireachtas, and from government. All must urgently play their part,” he said.
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) called on the Government to expedite the proposed referendum on children to address gaps in the legislation.
It said "absolute and strict liability" will ensure children are better protected.
The Rape Crisis Network of Ireland also called for a referendum to reintroduce absolute liability in statutory rape cases. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre called for a referendum date and said the ‘K’ case “certainly does not instill confidence in our ability as a society to protect our children”.
Children’s charity Barnardos urged the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children to produce its recommendations.
In a statement, Ombudsman for Children Emily Logan referred to her recent submission to that committee.
Ms Logan told the committee she was opposed to a strict liability law on the basis that it would not meet its main aim of protecting children from hostile cross-examination in court proceedings.
The proposed referendum is not now expected to take place until next year.
Last month, the Government agreed to give the Oireachtas committee that is working on the referendum proposal an extra seven months to formulate a wording.
Tanaiste Brian Cowen told the Dail today the all-party committee was examining how to proceed beyond the defence of "honest mistake" while his Government colleague, Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan said the Constitution would not stand in the way of any changes.
"My view is that we have to make it less easy to avail of this particular defence and if the Constitution is a roadblock, it will have to be removed," Mr Lenihan said.