One hundred and eighty of the 943 sexual assault victims to attend sex assault treatment units last year were under the age of 18.
A number of units reported sharp increases with the country’s busiest SATU at Rotunda in Dublin reporting a 23% increase on its 2018 total.The SATU at Galway also reported its busiest year to date with 102 patients attending while 110 patients attended the Donegal SATU in 2019, a 31% increase on 2018.
The report states that 675 or 62% of 1,084 perpetrators were described as ‘strangers’ or ‘recent acquaintance’ with an additional 177 or 17% as ‘friend’ or ‘family member’ while 94 or 9% were described as an intimate or ex-intimate partner.The report also documents that 89% of assaults were by a single assailant with 10% being by multiple assailants.
The report also states that 101 patients opted to securely store their forensic evidence in SATU to give them an option to report the incident and have this forensic evidence released.