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The Nun, the Rape Charge, and the Miscarriage of Justice: The Case of Nora Wall

Added on October 16, 2007



[The following is a summary of a paper read by Catherine O'Sullivan, Law Department UCC at a conference held by the Law and Literature Association of Australia. The conference took place in the University of Melbourne in June 2006. Since the Nora Wall case has been swept under the carpet in Ireland, I find it encouraging that it is attracting attention in Australia. I do not agree with all of O'Sullivan's points e.g. she seems to suggest that Nora Wall was demonised because she was a woman whereas it is perfectly clear that it was an anti-clerical witch-hunt. However the main problem with false accusations against Catholic clergy is NOT that the media (and historians) have misinterpreted them. It is that you have ignored them and failed to draw any conclusions at all. From that point of view Ms O'Sullivan's paper is very worthwhile.

Rory Connor
14 October 2007]

Abstract of Paper by Catherine O?Sullivan, Law Department, University College Cork, Ireland

Law and Literature Association of Australia

13 July 2006 (University of Melbourne, Australia)

In 1999, Nora Wall, a former nun, was convicted of the rape and indecent assault of a 10-year old girl. The crimes for which she was convicted were alleged to have occurred when she worked in a child care institution run by the Sisters of Mercy. Ms. Wall was the first woman in the history of the Irish State to be convicted of rape, and the first person ever to be given a life sentence for the crime. Her co-accused, Mr. McCabe, a homeless man, was sentenced to 12 years. It subsequently transpired that the complainant had previously made false allegations, and indeed, during the trial her claims that Ms. Wall and Mr. McCabe raped her again when she was 12 were rejected by the jury because Mr. McCabe was in prison during the time of the alleged second offense. The guilty verdict was overturned when it was revealed that a witness, whose testimony was supposed to be excluded on the grounds of unreliability, had testified at the trial.

This case is interesting for a number of reasons. It is interesting not only because Ms. Wall became the female face of paedophilia but also because of the social context in which the case arose. Her trial took place shortly after a media expos? on the extent of sexual and physical abuse within religious-run institutions. I wish to examine the shift in the representation of Ms. Wall from Monster to Martyr drawing from media coverage of her arrest, her trial, and her subsequent exoneration. In particular I wish to examine the various understandings of (in)appropriate femininity that underlie these representations and explore the cultural anxiety that accompanied the apparent exposure of a female sexual abuser.

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