There has been a 14 per cent increase in people reporting rape and sexual assault by a stranger in the five years since 2003, according to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’s (DRCC) annual report for 2008.
Over half of all reported rapes are now perpetrated by an individual not known to the victim, the report found.
The centre’s national 24-hour helpline dealt with 12,741 calls last year, of which 9487 were genuine. 86 per cent of calls were from woman and 14 per cent from men. 45.06 per cent of calls were in relation to childhood sexual abuse with 44.95 per cent relating to adult rape.
Some 38 per cent of victims reported physical violence, psychological abuse and intimidation in addition to the rape or sexual assault – an increase of 5 per cent on the previous year.
A total of 284 people were accompanied to the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit at the Rotunda Hospital by the centre’s trained volunteers.
There has been a 20 per cent increase in the number of people attending the centre for childhood sexual abuse in the last five years.
Victims are increasingly more likely to report rape or sexual assault by someone known to them, contrary to previous trends.
In 2008, 44 per cent of clients who experienced recent rape or sexual assault by a known assailant reported to the Gardai, compared to 40 per cent of clients raped by a stranger.
Speaking at the launch of the report, chairman of the DRCC Brendan Spring said the report made for “grim reading.”
“I found it most disturbing that 38% of our clients in 2008 told their therapists that, in addition to sexual violence, they had experienced various other types of abuse, including physical violence, attempts to kill and torture," he said.
DRCC chief executive Ellen O’Malley Dunlop said the centre had observed an increase in sexual violence.
“This year we are highlighting a worrying increase in rape by strangers - now 51 per cent of all rapes experienced by our clients,” she said.
“We are concerned by a disturbing trend in the levels of physical violence, intimidation and psychological violence accompanying sexual violence or childhood sexual abuse.”