A former garda who endured a 13-year court process to see her former partner jailed for assault has told domestic violence victims there is a “beautiful life to be lived after abuse”.
In a message to people currently experiencing domestic abuse, Margaret Loftus said the gruelling criminal court process, which involved 58 hearings and other “systemic” hurdles she faced, have still been “easier than living in that relationship”.
“I want you to know there is a beautiful life to be lived after abuse; a life where you can be safe, you can thrive and you can be the one to flourish. You just need to dig deep inside yourself and fight for the life you want and the life you deserve,” she said.
She was addressing attendees of a Women’s Aid event marking the release of the charity’s annual impact report, which recorded a 33 per cent increase in domestic abuse disclosures to its services last year. The organisation’s teams heard 57,520 disclosures about abuse committed against women and 4,755 concerning children.
Loftus said the figures are the “tip of the iceberg”, and “for some people, silence is what is keeping them alive right now”.
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She said the acceptance of abuse against women and children is “deeply ingrained in the fabric of our society”.
“We all need to stand forward to give our systems and our societal attitudes no choice but to change,” she said.
She had been “screaming into the abyss” trying to tell her story for many years, and is grateful to be listened to now.
Last January, her ex-partner Trevor Bolger, a serving garda, was given a three-month sentence for assaulting her after they attended a family party in Co Mayo in October 2012. The assault occurred in front of their young children in Loftus’s childhood bedroom. She was also a serving garda at the time.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, also speaking at the event, said voices of survivors such as Loftus should be at the “forefront” when developing policy or legal changes related to domestic abuse.
O’Callaghan said each disclosure of domestic abuse is a “demonstration of strength and courage, but also of hope and trust in Women’s Aid”. The disclosure figures are “stark and sobering”, he said, illustrating the size of the problem and that women are increasingly encouraged to come forward.
As part of a range of legislative measures, he plans to outlaw the possession, production and distribution of extreme and violent pornography to help protect women and the development of young people.
He is concerned about the “increasing level of violent and extreme pornography”, he said, and intends to bring proposals to the Government in the coming weeks to address this “significant gap in our legislation”.
These threats are evolving at such pace, he said, that he believes they require a co-ordinated response throughout the European Union. He intends to use Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union to seek consensus across member states and the European Commission on the need for a “concerted, collective and evidence-based response to these threats”.