Two-thirds of people who contacted the Sexual Violence Centre Cork for support last year did not report being assaulted to the Gardaí
That's one of the findings of the charity's annual report which says the centre supported 341 new clients in 2020.
Clients were supported in person and online by professional councillors and therapists due to the outbreak of the pandemic.
Victims reported that men made up 99.2% of all perpetrators, with victims knowing the perpetrator almost 87% of the time.
Speaking to RedFM News, Mary Crilly from the Sexual Violence Centre Cork outlines why the majority of victims don't report being assaulted:
"The majority of people are raped by somebody who they know and who they trust. I think that's why only third of them report it to the guards, which is up a bit. Usually it's about 25% but 1/3 did report it to the guards. I think the others couldn't. Some of them would have said because they lived in houses with six, seven or eight people - house-sharing. And they were quite happy until this happened. But they couldn't. They felt it was their fault. If they said anything to their flatmates, they'd be changing everything in the flat for everybody."
