Lucy Monaghan

In April 2015, Monaghan reported meeting a man she knew and remembered going to a house and sick before falling unconscious for about eight hours. She claimed that she woke up in a strange bed asking herself “Why am I here?” and “Where are my cloths?”. Realising that she might have been attacked, she reported the case to the police and presented herself at the sexual assault referral centre for forensic examinations. The Police Service of Northern Ireland, (PSNI) investigated the case and shared a file with Public Prosecution Service, (PPS) but PPS decided not to prosecute because it was unlikely to lead to conviction due to evidence of Monaghan “flirting” with the suspect.[4]  Monaghan charged the police to court for negligence in the investigation. The Ombudsman investigated and found that medical reports and copies of social media messages between Monaghan and the suspect were not shared with the PPS. It was also found that the case officer did not obtain statements from other witnesses. The PPS then admitted negligence in the handling of the investigation and made changes in the way sexual assault victims are treated.[5] In 2020, Monaghan waived her anonymity right and spoke to the BBC about the incident. She then started a campaign against rape and encouraging victims to speak up.