Debate contribution: Victims and Witnesses of Crime Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Ms Connie Egan on 30 June 2026.

MLA: Ms Connie Egan
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 30 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Executive Committee Business
Heading: Victims and Witnesses of Crime Bill: Second Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5653447

Text

On behalf of the Alliance Party, I am proud to contribute to the Second Stage debate on Minister Long's Victims and Witnesses of Crime Bill. As the Bill's explanatory and financial memorandum states, it aims:
"to create a more victim- and witness-centred ... protective criminal justice system".
It is imperative that victims and witnesses be supported, represented and safeguarded throughout their justice journey. Alliance welcomes the introduction of the Bill, in its three Parts, as a way to achieve that.
Being a victim of or a witness to a crime can be one of the most traumatic and challenging periods in one's life. It is therefore vital that, when entering the justice process and throughout it, people have confidence that it will be as fair, trauma-informed and comprehensive as possible. It is for that reason, as we work to improve the experience of everyone impacted on by crime, that I thank Minister Long and her officials in the Department of Justice for their efforts to introduce the Bill as quickly and diligently as possible. It is clear that, when consulted on, the Bill's content overwhelmingly tested well with the public, particularly in the exercise that closed early last year on its proposals. The Justice Committee received a lot of pre-legislative interest in the Bill and its potential to deliver for victims. As, hopefully, the Bill moves from this stage to the next, I look forward to engaging with each organisation and individual of interest in our call for evidence. Part 1 of the Bill places the appointment and remit of the Commissioner for Victims and Witnesses of Crime on a statutory footing, making it clear that the commissioner must monitor compliance with the Victim Charter by charter service providers. It will also require criminal justice organisations to provide statistical victim information. Alliance wholly welcomes that. Its benefits are clearly evidenced by the current commissioner designate role occupied by Geraldine Hanna. Minister Long's proactive step to create that role before the legislation was introduced served the dual purpose of giving victims and witnesses as much of a voice as possible in the here and now and testing some of the responsibilities that could end up in primary legislation. The commissioner designate role has been a clear success. Like others, I thank Geraldine for everything that she and her office have done so far. She and her team have embodied why the role is so important. Like many of us here, I have engaged with them on numerous occasions, in particular about the experiences of domestic abuse victims in the family court system. There has to be kindness in such a role, given that you come across many people in the most vulnerable moments of their life, and that kindness is definitely delivered. When I speak to victims who have engaged with the commissioner's office and ask them about their experience, their answer is always one that is grateful in nature. They highlight the importance of having someone independent who listens to them and engages with their experience. They feel supported in a way in which victims and witnesses would not otherwise feel. That is why putting the commissioner role on a statutory footing is so important. It will create a constant reminder and a voice for victims and witnesses and a vehicle to embed those perspectives in policy and service development across our criminal justice agencies. Part 2 is also very welcome, because it legislates on criminal evidence and procedures that will improve the experiences of victims and witnesses across their justice journey. Clauses 24 and 25 add offences that involve aggravation by hostility, otherwise known as "hate crimes", to the list for which witnesses are eligible for special measures. The clauses also amend the Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 to ensure that no person charged with an offence involving aggravation by hostility can cross-examine a witness who is the complainant. That is a great development in our protective laws for victims of crime. As is noted in Judge Marrinan's review of hate crime legislation, victims and witnesses not having special measures can dissuade victims from giving evidence out of fear of having to face the perpetrator or the defence in a traumatic and distressing way. As the Minister referenced in her opening remarks, creating a legislative assumption that hate crime victims are to be treated as being eligible for assistance on the grounds of fear and distress will give them deeper assurance that they will not be put into a traumatic and distressing situation in which they are forced to engage with their perpetrator in court. Clause 26 will put into statute deeper protections for complainants in proceedings for sexual offences. That will improve the exercise of when pretrial applications for disclosure or admission of evidence are submitted, giving victims more opportunities to be part of the judicial decision-making process. That is a really welcome addition to the Bill, particularly as we often hear from victims who feel as though their wishes are not respected or even heard. When we talk about a victim getting their day in court, it is sometimes forgotten that they are often treated as a witness for the prosecution rather than as someone who has their own legal counsel. When the defence counsel requests records that contain extremely sensitive and personal information, such as the medical and sexual history of a victim or witness — that is questionable to begin with — it is only right that the victim has a right to put forward their own representations.
Clause 27 addresses a future legal gap caused by the implementation of direct committal, limiting the power to dismiss charges involving the death or serious physical harm of a child or vulnerable person. Part 3 provides for the creation of regulations and orders, including the commencement of the provisions. We cannot go back in time and rewrite some of what victims and witnesses have experienced in our courtrooms or at any other point in their justice journey, but we can look to the future and support the provisions with their experiences at the forefront of our decision-making. I look forward to engaging on the Bill during the Committee Stage to ensure that, on completion, we have a Bill that delivers a better and increasingly trauma-informed justice system.

1,051 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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