Most crisis centre clients were abused as children

MORE THAN half the victims of rape and sexual abuse who received face-to-face counselling at Rape Crisis Centres across the State last year were adults who had been abused as children.

The National Statistics report from the Rape Crisis Centre Network, published yesterday, found 1,691 people were counselled last year. Some 54.4 per cent suffered sexual violence in childhood, 39 per cent in adulthood, and seven per cent as children and adults.

"In gender terms males are much more likely to be abused during childhood, and the risk decreases as they grow up. Adulthood provides less of a safe harbour for females, with only a 10 per cent reduction in rates of abuse reported," said network executive director Fiona Neary.

"For 60 per cent of those abused during childhood the abuse lasted for one or more years. Can you begin to imagine the impact of more than a year of abuse on a child, and the kind of expert, dedicated support they will require in later life?"

Also yesterday, the Department of Justice confirmed there were 299 people serving jail terms for sex offences, but there were eight rehabilitation places for such offenders in prison. In answer to a parliamentary question from Mary Upton TD, the Minister, Dermot Ahern, said 136 sex offenders had completed the programme since its introduction in 1994.