Plans to give defendants in child sexual abuse civil cases a new legal route to have the proceedings against them dropped will traumatise victims further, lawyers have warned.
Legislation is being considered by Parliament which would give alleged abusers a new defence to get the case against them dismissed by convincing a judge that they would suffer ‘substantial prejudice’ if proceedings were to go ahead.
“The Crime and Policing Bill would scrap the current three-year time limit for survivors of abuse to bring a civil case for damages against their abusers, which is long overdue. But inexplicably the Government has added an unwarranted provision that would give defendants an extra layer of protection,” said Kim Harrison from the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).
“The Bill will already provide sufficient protection for defendants as courts can dismiss a claim if it is not possible for the defendant to receive a fair trial, as is their right under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.”
“This unnecessary extra defence of ‘substantial prejudice’ was not part of the detailed recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), unlike the crucial measures to lift the time limit in England and Wales. There’s been no justification for including this new defence, and no explanation of what ‘substantial prejudice’ would entail,” said Kim.
“It will cause unnecessary delays to cases and lead to the collapse of others, causing further trauma to survivors of abuse who have already lived through unimaginable horrors as a child,” said Kim,” who represented many survivors at the national inquiry.
APIL has briefed peers ahead of the Bill’s first debate in the House of Lords on Thursday 16 October.
“Peers must reject this overzealous extra defence which will make it even harder for survivors of abuse to receive justice,” added Kim.