Margaret Loftus, a former garda assaulted by her former partner whose case took 13 years to go through the courts, has said her experience of the prolonged and punishing process had broken her “in every way possible”.
Last month, Trevor Bolger, a serving garda, was given a three-month sentence for assaulting Loftus after they attended a family party in Co Mayo in October 2012.
The assault occurred in front of their young children in Loftus’s childhood bedroom. She was also a serving garda at the time. Loftus yesterday visited Leinster House to share her experience with TDs and Senators. She was hosted by Rose Conway-Walsh, whom Loftus praised for supporting her through the protracted investigation and court hearings. Sinn Féin Senator Pauline Tully, herself a victim of spousal violence, also spoke at the event.
Loftus was critical of the prolonged process and the obstacles she faced from some colleagues in the An Garda Síochána, who sided with her former husband, and during the criminal prosecution process. She told a large audience in the audiovisual room of Leinster House that there faced 58 separate court hearings, ongoing harassment and intimidation, and long delays. She praised the current Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly, whom she said was the senior officer who took charge of investigation and ensured it was completed, before his promotion.
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Elsewhere, she said, she was let down or faced hostility from within the Garda. “My experience of this entire process has completely and utterly brought me to my knees and broken me in every way possible,” she said.
“I’m standing here today as emotionally intact as I can be, but do not underestimate the trauma that this experience has had on my life and the life of my family.”
Loftus outlined the difficulties she encountered within An Garda Síochána after bringing charges against her former husband. “That journey was made extremely difficult for me by the very organisation that was tasked with the protection of life.
“I was intimidated and punished for protecting myself and my children. I had transfers cancelled. I had my pay stopped,” she said.
“I had my phones and emails hacked.”
She said that politicians had the power to make sure that the prosecution process was professional and impartial, and one that did not cause as much trauma to the victim as the crime itself.
Loftus also met Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan on Wednesday and raised with him her call for a systematic review of misogyny within An Garda Síochána.
[ The Irish Times view on the Margaret Loftus case: questions for the GardaOpens in new window ]
Sarah Benson, chief executive of Women’s Aid, told the audience that over a third of women in Ireland will experience physical, psychological or sexual abuse from an intimate partner, a statistic she said was stunning.
Benson said that Loftus’s experience of being subjected to abuse, and the many failings that happened afterwards, provided “a case study of the system failing at numerous points”.
