The first conviction in this State for marital rape is a watershed, not only in our criminal justice system, but in the evolution of the attitude of this society towards women and the family.
For many centuries rape within marriage was one of the last taboos. Church and state alike supported the view that the marriage contract entitled a man to sex with his wife in any and all circumstances, even if that was accompanied by violence. Consent to sex for all time was taken to be implied in the marriage contract, and this was reflected in religious marriage ceremonies. Anecdotal evidence abounds of women being advised by clergy to "offer up" sexual violence within marriage.
Although the law was changed in 1990, the prevalence of this view was still widespread enough for the perpetrator in this week's case to mock his wife's threat to report the rape to the Gardai. According to evidence heard in court he told the Gardai he did not regret having sex with her against her will, he only regretted that the Gardai knew about it.
The courage of the woman who brought this complaint to the Garda must be commended. So must the dedication of the members of the Garda who investigated and prosecuted the case, and brought it to a successful conclusion. The fact that it ended in conviction will be an encouragement to all women who have previously felt that they have nowhere to turn in such a situation.
By its nature, such an intimate crime is difficult to measure. However, the recently-published Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland report stated that over a quarter of women who experienced sexual assault did so at the hands of partners or former partners. Other, international research suggests that the rate of rape within marriage falls in the range of 10 to 14 per cent.
Men's rights campaigners in other jurisdictions have claimed that this kind of legislation leads to false allegations which are impossible to disprove. The issue of proof is always a difficult one in rape cases, turning as they do on the question of consent. But the fact that there is such a wide disparity between the number of rapes reported to researchers and the number reported to Gardai, and the fact that only a minority of those reported lead to convictions, tend to undermine any suggestion that such complaints are made frivolously. It is to be hoped that Thursday's conviction will go some way towards convincing women who experience sexual violence at the hands of their partners that the criminal justice system is accessible to them.
