ALMOST one-quarter of female murders since 1970 involved the killing of a wife by her husband, a seminar was told yesterday. In contrast, only 3 per cent of male murders involved the killing of a husband by his wife.
The Department of Justice figures were issued at a seminar on violence against women, organised by the Minister of State at the Office of the Tanaiste, Ms Eithne Fitzgerald.
Of the domestic violence incidents to which gardai are called, one in 10 ends in a conviction, according to Ms Monica McWilliams of the University of Ulster. In 1994, gardai attended 3,951 domestic violence incidents and 392 people were convicted. These incidents involved injury to 755 people and 765 people were arrested.
Ms McWilliams said offences which increased in frequency and intensity should be taken more seriously by those responding to domestic violence. "There is evidence of cases in which men who have killed their partners have previously been prosecuted for less serious offences."
Rape victims were harassed and bullied by defence lawyers, Ms Olive Braiden of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre told the seminar. "The victim expects that she will be treated with kindness and consideration by the system," she said. "She looks to gardai, prosecutors and the courts for this and finds herself bitterly disappointed.
"Giving the rape victim the right to her own lawyer at every step of the process . . . will do more to improve the present system of dealing with rape than any change in the law or rules of evidence," she said.