MINISTER FOR JUSTICE Frances Fitzgerald has said she is concerned about allegations that there was an inadequate response from State agencies to serious allegations of rape and sexual assault by a Polish woman in 2006.
The Irish Examiner this week reported on the case of Anna Bubula, who alleges she was held against her will, beaten, raped and sexually assaulted by a man at his apartment.
She has said medical staff failed to report the rape allegation to gardaí, gardaí did not follow up despite being at the scene when she was taken in an ambulance and there was no effort to collect evidence as part of the investigation.
Speaking in the Dáil in response to comments from Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin, the Justice Minister said she has a “profound abhorrence for sexual and domestic violence in all its manifestations”.
The reports regarding this case are indeed very serious and I am sure that all in the House will agree that they merit the most thorough investigation. Apart from the very brutal nature of the reported assault in this case there are disturbing allegations about a lack of response from state agencies including An Garda Síochána and the health services.
The minister said the woman wrote to her and the Garda Commissioner at the end of last year and she requested a full report from the Commisioner. A report is now being compiled and Anna Bubula has already attended a meeting with gardaí in relation to it.
Fitzgerald noted the Garda Inspectorate report last year raised some serious concerns about the treatment of domestic and sexual violence victims and recommendations on the back of this report are being implemented.
“It is essential that in this and all similar cases we do not lose sight of the paramount importance of supporting the victims of crime and ensuring that everything that can be done to assist them is actually done.”
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