Member's statement: Sexual Offence Cases: Protected Complainants
Member's statement by Mr Robbie Butler on .
- MLA
- Mr Robbie Butler
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 29 June 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Sexual Offence Cases: Protected Complainants
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5644590
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Everyone will agree with me that there can be no compromise when it comes to protecting children and those who have suffered from sexual abuse. The law is absolutely clear: the anonymity afforded to complainants in sexual offence cases is not an optional courtesy but a legal protection that exists to safeguard victims from further trauma, encourage others to come forward and uphold confidence in our justice system. We have heard many warnings from the Attorney General and the PSNI that anyone who seeks to identify or facilitate the identification of protected complainants may be committing a criminal offence. While those warnings are welcome, warnings are not enough. If there is credible evidence that individuals have deliberately breached those protections or have used social media or other platforms to encourage others to do so, the public are entitled to expect that those entrusted with enforcing the law will act. Justice must not only be done but be seen to be done. Law that is enacted but not enforced risks becoming law that will be ignored. This is not about any one individual, nor is it about politics. It is about public curiosity. It is about ensuring that victims of sexual offences can have confidence that the protections that the Assembly and Parliament have provided are real and meaningful. My question to the Attorney General and the PSNI is this: having rightly warned of the consequences of unlawfully identifying protected complainants, will they now ensure that those warnings are backed up by robust investigation and, where the evidence meets the legal test, appropriate prosecution? If we stay silent and fail to ask that those protections be upheld, we risk sending a chilling message to future victims that speaking out may expose them to public identification and harassment. We owe them better than that. The law should be applied fairly and consistently without fear or favour.
314 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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