Thirteen NGOs have called for improvements to the way women who have been sexually assaulted are treated by the justice system.

In a statement, the Victim Support Malta alongside 12 other NGOs said there was “urgent need for swift and effective judicial remedies for women who have suffered rape and sexual assault.”

The statement came in response to a recent magistrate's ruling that an alleged rape case between a woman and her Mount Carmel Hospital carer was consensual, the statement said. Victim Support Malta included the hashtag #westandwithemma in its statement posted to Facebook on Monday night.

In 2022, Emma Attard told Times of Malta she could “not move on” after an alleged rape in her home at the hands of her Mount Carmel carer three weeks after being discharged from the hospital.

The magisterial inquiry underway at the time was concluded last week, with the magistrate ruling the case was not rape as consent had been given, Attard announced in an emotional social media post on Thursday.

A segment of the video post showing Attard’s initial reaction to the ruling sees her tearfully telling the camera: "I’ve been told it was my fault, [that] I let him rape me and it’s all my fault. They told me it didn’t look like there had been any abuse.”

In a later segment, she says: “She [the magistrate] does not understand what consent means. Given all the reports that were written, I think there needs to be more awareness of what consent means.”

Commenting on the “excruciating” case, which dragged on for two years, the NGOs said the woman had “not been given the opportunity to testify in court, nor was the accused taken for questioning”.

This was in violation of the Istanbul Convention – otherwise known as the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence – and the EU Victim’s Rights Directive, which establishes minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, they said.

Stressing there was a “power imbalance inherent to a patient and carer relationship,” the NGOs said this cast “serious doubt” on the possibility of the woman referenced in the case providing “meaningful consent”.

"Furthermore, it should be noted that a common trauma response is to freeze... The absence of physical evidence of violence or coercion can thus never be taken as an indication that there was consent for sex.”

In the video posted to Instagram, Attard describes how she “froze... I was terrified; I feared for my life, for God’s sake, that he was going to kill me.”

The organisations called for the “full implementation” of the EU Victim’s Rights Directive and for mandatory training for the police, prosecutors and judiciary “on the elements of consent and the impact this gruesome crime has on survivors.”

“Women who have experienced rape or sexual assault must be able to have full faith in our institutions to deliver justice in a timely and effective manner,” the NGOs said.

Having justice denied to them was subjecting victims of sexual assault to “needless re-traumatisation" they said, stressing "their voices must be heard.”

The statement was signed by NGOs Women's Rights Foundation, Dar Hosea, Dar Merhba, Bik Foundation, SOAR MALTA, FIDEM Foundation, Men Against Violence, Moviment Graffitti, Malta Women's Lobby – MWL, Maltese Association of Social Workers,  Women's Rights Foundation, The Lisa Maria Foundation, Victim Support Malta, Fondazzjoni Sebħ, and Women for Women Foundation.

How to help a survivor

Speaking to Times of Malta in 2022, Kyra Borg who heads CVSA (Care for Victims of Sexual Assault) services at Victim Support Malta said the best way to help survivors of sexual assault was to “sit down, listen and be present for the person.”

“Don’t worry about being lost for words. Don’t be judgmental, ask them how they are, how they are experiencing it and stay with what they are saying,” she said.

“Ask them if they need any practical things and ask how you can support. Ask, don’t assume what the person needs. Do not deviate from the conversation and talk about something else, this will increase their feeling of shame.

“They might think: ‘I opened up to you and you cannot take it, so this must be something I should hide.’"

Reach out to Victim Support Malta on 2122 8333 or info@victimsupport.org.mt