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Waterford and Monaghan are Ireland’s top blackspots for violent crime, irishmirror.ie can reveal.

Exclusive analysis of cases that have gone before the Central Criminal Court since 2012 reveals more people from the these counties have been charged with rape, murder or related crimes than any other part of Ireland.

Our shocking data probe has also discovered that a higher proportion of people from Monaghan have stood trial for rape than anywhere else in Ireland over the past three years.

And Limerick is Ireland’s killer capital with more murder cases involving defendants from the Southwestern county than anywhere else in Ireland between 2012 and 2014.

Since 2012, 326 people have gone before the Central Criminal Court charged with rape or attempted rape, while 184 people have appeared in the court charged with murder or attempted murder.

The highest proportion of defendants have been from either Waterford and Monaghan at 17 per 100,000.

Limerick, Clare and Westmeath are next with rates of 12 per 100,000 each. Dublin follows with a violent crime suspect rate of 11 per 100,000.

However Monaghan has the worst record when it comes to rape, attempted rape and serious sexual assault with a rate of 15 per 100,000.

Waterford is next, with a rate of 12 per 100,000 followed by Westmeath, Galway and Clare, which each have a rate of nine per 100,000.

Limerick has the nation’s highest rate of suspected murderers with seven per 100,000 appearing in the Central Criminal Court charged with a pre-mediated killing between 2012 and 2014.

Dublin is second with a rate of five per 100,000, followed by Waterford, Cavan and Mayo with four per 100,000 each.

Rape rates

The figures reveal that rape cases outnumber murder cases by almost two to one across the country.

Limerick and Wexford are the only counties where more people have stood trial for murder than for rape in the past three years.

There were 13 murder cases in Limerick compared with 10 rape cases between 2012 and 2014, while Wexford saw five murder cases and four rape cases.

Rape cases outnumber murder cases in most other counties.

The biggest gap is in Galway where there have been 22 rape cases since 2012, compared with two murder cases.

Cork saw 27 rape cases compared with 10 murder cases, while in Dublin there were 76 rape cases and 64 murder cases.

Fianna Fail justice spokesperson Niall Collins said the shocking figures expose how our justice system is failing victims of rape and violence.

He told the Irish Mirror: “We have a serious problem when it comes to securing tough convictions for rape cases in particular.

The increase in rape cases is not matched by a corresponding increase in convictions. The sentences handed down to these violent criminals also vary widely from case to case, and it’s very difficult for people to understand why.

This is why I’m proposing a radical overhaul of the criminal sentencing system and introducing sentencing guidelines allowing Judges to crack down on convicted rapists and murderers.”



He added: “We cannot continue to allow a situation where the cases of rape and murder continue to rise. The gardaí must be supported in tackling violent crime in all communities across the country.”

Lowest rates

On the other end of the scale, Leitrim hasn’t produced a single rape or murder suspect in the last three years with no one from the county appearing before the Central Criminal Court charged with violent crime.

Longford, Meath and Kilkenny have the next lowest overall violent crime rates at three per 100,000 each. Meath and Kilkenny have rape rates of just 2 per 100,000 .

When it comes to murder, no one from Longford or Carlow has faced trial in the Central Criminal court in the past three years.

Just one person from Longford has been charged with rape, while two people each in Kilkenny, Offaly and Roscommon have faced serious sex offence charges.

Our exclusive analysis also reveals the number of people in charged with murder has jumped by 12% in the past three years.

Exclusive analysis of data from the Irish Court Service reveals that he numbers who appeared before the Central Criminal Court charged with killing rose from 57 in 2012 to 64 in 2014.

Overall, the number charged with violent crimes saw a 6% rise with 174 in 2014 compared with 164 in 2012.

During the same period, rape charges rose by 3% from 107 in 2012 to 110 last year.

Cuts

Mr Collins said the worrying figures come “at a time of unprecedented cuts to the gardaí”.

He told the Irish Mirror: “Our gardaí are under more pressure than ever before and there is no doubt in my mind that the slash and burn of their resources is having a major impact on the prevention and investigation of violent crime.”

The figures also reveal that women made up just 4% of suspects who appeared in court charged with violent crime between 2012 and 2014.

Find out which county has the highest number of alleged sex offences in its courts here.