The downward trend of cases coming before the Central Criminal Court, which deals with rape and murder, has halted, according to the latest figures from the court.
Statistics compiled by the court for 2005, seen yesterday by The Irish Times, show an increase of 10 per cent in the number of rape cases filed and an increase of 25 per cent in the number of murder cases received, compared with 2004.
The figures also show a reduction in the backlog of cases, which had meant waiting times of up to two years for a case to be heard a few years ago. The waiting time is now down to about five months. Last year was also the second year in which the Central Criminal Court sat outside of Dublin, sitting for 40 days in other venues, including Cork and Castlebar for the first time.
This year the court is also expected to sit in Waterford and Tralee, which will bring to eight the number of venues outside of Dublin for this division of the High Court.
Requests from the gardaí and legal practitioners for more venues outside Dublin are now commonplace, according to the statistics, which will form part of the 2005 Courts Service annual report.
The court disposed of 119 cases in 2005 and a further 11 cases ended with either the jury disagreeing or being discharged before verdict. These cases took up 54 days of court time.
There were 49 cases involving charges of murder or manslaughter and related charges, of which 31 resulted in guilty verdicts. Six of these pleaded guilty to manslaughter and four pleaded guilty to murder.
Of the cases that went to a trial before a jury, 12 were convicted of murder and nine of manslaughter. The jury was discharged in six cases, it disagreed in one, one charge was quashed and in another, where the accused was already serving a life sentence for murder, the DPP entered a nolle prosequi (no prosecution). Three people were found guilty but insane.
Seventy-five people were charged with rape and sexual assault charges, of whom two had died before the trial began, and in four instances the DPP entered nolle prosequis. There were 16 guilty pleas to charges of rape and related offences, 19 convicted following a trial and 15 acquittals.
The majority of sentences for rape and related offences were for more than five years imprisonment, with eight people sentenced to serve between five and seven years, 12 sentenced to serve seven to 12 years, and three people bearing heavier sentences, including one of more than 20 years.
Five people received suspended sentences, two people under one year, three between one and three and eight between three and five years.
In homicide cases, the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment was imposed in the 16 cases where the accused either pleaded guilty or was convicted by a jury. Nine people received sentences of between seven and 10 years for manslaughter and other lesser offences than murder, three received sentences under seven years and three under five years.
Overall, the figures show a dramatic rise in rape and sexual assault during the years 1998-2000, many of them accounted for by sexual abuse cases involving people who were child victims at the time of the offence. This began to tail off in 2001, and was down to 40 cases in 2004, but this increased to 44 last year.
Murder cases rose steadily between 1996 and 2000, had a brief dip in 2001 followed by a sharp increase in 2002. They fluctuated over the succeeding years and 2005 saw an increase to 35 over 28 in 2004.