Justice is possible for victims of sex attacks Co Armagh rape survivor says

Justice is possible for victims of sex attacks, a survivor from Northern Ireland has said. The woman, who is remaining anonymous, saw four men involved in the attack on her prosecuted, and said she does not believe she would be here today if she had not pursued the case. The Co Armagh woman was 22 in 2014 when she was raped in an attack involving a number of men.

While the experience deeply traumatised her, and saw her battle an eating disorder and make attempts to take her own life, she said things have now stabilised. She recently married her wife and is looking forward to having their first child together, as well as considering working as a mental health nurse in the future. She wants to speak out to let others know that getting justice and being able to move past the trauma is possible. In 2018 Florin Muntean, 27, was sentenced to seven years at Craigavon Crown Court after pleading guilty to rape. He was extradited from Lyon in France under a European Arrest Warrant. In 2017 Florin Cirpaci, 37, Ioan Lacatus, 28, and Aurel Teglas, 24, all with addresses in the Portadown area, were sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiring with Muntean to commit rape. She recalled the night of the attack, when she had been socialising in a bar in Portadown with a friend. Later she found herself on a bed being attacked by multiple men. “I had just finished my last elective placement for nursing in uni, so I had just come back from London. I had messaged my friend to see if she wanted to go on a last-minute night out,” she said. “We went out to a bar in Portadown, had a few drinks there, had a dance on the dance floor, talking to different people, and then the next thing I can remember was being in a random house on a person’s bed saying ‘please, it really hurts’, and not being able to move. “Once they were done, then somebody else, I was still saying ‘please, it really hurts’, and I eventually was able to get up. “They handed me back my phone which had constantly been ringing, my handbag and my underwear. “I ran out of the house. It was still pitch black outside, and I didn’t know where I was, and they followed me. “I remember two of them following me, they said ‘we’ll take you where you want to go’, and I remember thinking ‘well what else can they do to me, and I don’t know where I am, so I’ll just go’. “I didn’t want to tell them where I lived so they dropped me back to the bar, and my dad finally got through to me and picked me up from the bar. “I was being distant and he knew something had happened to me so I told him and he rang police.” She went to hospital and was interview by police into the early hours. “They had to do swabs, they took all my clothes on to a plastic sheet on the floor, took my phone, and then that was it. “I went home and showered, I felt numb. But I’m glad I spoke to police straight away so they were able to collect evidence,” she said. “There were two policemen in charge of my case. They were supportive, never pressured me in any way, and made me feel in control throughout the whole process. They visited the house with any updates on the investigation.” As time went on she learned the attack had taken place at a house in Corcrain, and that the bar had CCTV footage of the men taking her out of the bar. “They assumed I was drugged because I hadn’t had a huge amount to drink. But it was never conclusive,” she said. “It’s just completely blank, it’s memory that I have never got back. They got video footage and said I was basically lifted out of there by the men to a car.” The following years were challenging for the woman, who took up a nursing job in England and experienced poor mental health. She suffered from anorexia for a number of years and spent time in an inpatient facility. “I numbed a lot of it out, I numbed the trauma out which was my biggest downfall, I thought if I moved cities it would make me feel a bit better because any day I wasn’t working my mental health was really, really bad,” she said. “I almost started to not eat enough, restrict what I ate, and started to lose more weight. “I took an overdose, and then started to receive treatment. But I took another overdose so I was sectioned and put into an acute mental health ward for over a month, before going to an eating disorder unit. “I felt these feelings of dirtiness and worthlessness, and not being able to escape the thoughts in my head, those words ‘please it really hurts’ was in my head all the time. “I am eternally grateful to my mum who dropped everything and came to England where she visited me in the hospital every day until we moved home.” The woman said she felt being medicated delayed even further her talking about the trauma. The court case began in October 2016 and she moved home to Co Armagh where she saw a psychotherapist twice a week. “I went to the court and was expecting to do a video link so I’d maintain my anonymity, but because they pleaded guilty I didn’t have to say anything. “At this point my weight was very low and I wasn’t stable enough to speak,” she said. “Eventually with a lot of intensive work with my psychotherapist twice a week and with the support of my family and my partner, I managed to finally work myself through it. “I had a great relationship with my psychotherapist who worked with me up until 2021 when she retired. “She signposted me to a number of additional therapies which were all helpful to my recovery, and for understanding that talking therapies would be more beneficial than medicating me.” For some time she avoided the area of Portadown where the attack took place, and the bar due to the memory. But in recent years she says, she has been able to travel through those areas again. The woman said she rarely sees reports or hears of successful prosecutions in rape cases. She said taking the case helped to give her the sense of control which had been taken away from her that night. “You don’t see a whole lot anywhere about there being successful cases, people being prosecuted and a successful trial with sentencing,” she said. “For me, that’s the biggest reason why I am speaking out, to make more people aware that it can happen, and that the perpetrators can be put in prison and they can be held responsible for what they have done. “Especially in my situation, where my case happened on a night out, some people will say she was too drunk, it was her own fault, and people feel shame and start to doubt themselves. “But it’s never OK whether you are in a state or not, because you’re not able to give consent. “I want more people to realise they can come forward and something will come of it. “I don’t think I would be here today if I hadn’t pushed for the trial, because I needed some sort of closure and I needed someone to have responsibility for what happened, rather than just me destroying myself.” She added: “The thoughts of dirtiness and disgust won’t disappear by self harm. Those are intrusive damaging thoughts that can only fade with intensive phycological work which I was able to do with the best psychotherapist, my supportive family and my wife. “Those feelings should remain with the perpetrators, not the survivor. “I will never be a victim but someone who has survived and is leading a now happy healthy life. “I will never be cured of my illness, and that’s OK, but I have developed healthy coping mechanisms which help keep me well, as well as my supportive family and wife who have all been on this journey with me. “If I have been able to overcome this then I believe anyone can.” The Samaritans’ free helpline is available around the clock on 116 123.

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