Debate contribution: Courts: Good-character References
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 19 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Courts: Good-character References
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5795816
Read the official Assembly record
Text
There are two things to say. Character references are used at two points in the system. The first is during the trial, and any interference with that could prejudice the right to a fair trial. One thing that Sir John Gillen raised in his review of serious sexual offences was the imbalance, in that victims will often feel that they are on trial. They cannot call on good-character references but have to stand up and give an account of themselves and are cross-examined about how reliable their evidence might be. Meanwhile, the alleged perpetrator does not have to take to the stand but can call people to say that they are of good character. There is a challenge. What speaks to the complexity of the issue is that, unlike in almost every other case, Sir John did not make a recommendation on how it could be resolved. We need to bear that in mind. It may be that we can do something more in a shorter time frame on the use of character references for mitigation at sentencing, so we are looking at that area for potential intervention in this mandate. However, I still see the wider issues being considered as part of ongoing work in the Department into the next mandate, because, as we know, there are certain cases where, through the grooming of whole communities and groups of people, defendants often appear very different in public from how they appear in private. We have heard it said: an angel in the street and a demon in the household. That has been seen more than once.
267 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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