BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
THIS IS a story of victory and triumph. A child, call her Audrey, not her real name, suddenly remembers how she was sexually assaulted by her uncle when she was seven years old. She buried the pain and memory deep inside. It was her secret. She was scared by his threats to kill her if she told. He thought he got away with it.
One day, Audrey was in school when the teacher and students were discussing child rights and sexual abuse. Audrey reacted emotionally and cried with the pain and memory of the sexual assault. She had kept it hidden for so long the hurt and pain burst out. The teacher brought Audrey to the guidance counselor, a former staff of the Preda Foundation, that knew what to do. With the local government social worker, they brought Audrey to the Preda home for abused children.
At Preda, she was empowered to deal with the trauma. She then bravely, with hope for justice, filed a strong legal complaint with the prosecutor with details of time and place and how it happened.
For victims of sexual abuse, once the memory comes back, it can be as clear as if it only happened yesterday. But there was a long delay with the prosecutor. It took many months and representation by the Preda social workers until the prosecutor finally decided in favor of Audrey and the case was to the court.
Long delays favor the accused. The defense lawyers used delaying tactics hoping for Audrey to give up because of “fatigue.” A pay off to her parents to get her to drop her complaint was not possible because she was safe in the Preda home.
There many more stressful days of hurt and pain as Audrey and many more children waited for their day in court but it seemed it would never come. Was it delaying tactics of the defense lawyers that the judge favored and allowed? We can never know. Then after a year and three months Audrey was finally able to testily. It was strong and powerful and detailed. The accused had only denial as a defense and could not overcome the testimony of Audrey.
The question that everyone is asking is why it took so long? Almost two years have passed from the time she filed the complaint when Audrey finally took the witness stand. Other cases take longer than three years before the judge will decide. Justice delayed is justice denied, it is said, but who is failing in their responsibility? The courts?
No, not really. In some cases, yes. However, the family court are overloaded. The judges work non-stop and have too many cases such as adoption, reconciliation of spouses, family controversy, petitions for guardianship, custody of children, habeas corpus and many more. There are too few prosecutors and judges qualified and trained to do the job. The most important task of the judiciary and the executive in this beautiful country is delivering justice to suffering children that deserve justice.
Some children get justice quickly before fast moving judges. In other court rooms, they wait many years. (To be continued)/PN
