Billy Baldwin received the V-SAC Outstanding Volunteer Award. This was based on excellent feedback given from staff, volunteers, service users and stakeholders. Billy went above and beyond what was expected in the role of the court accompaniment volunteer. Congratulations Billy!
News
V-SAC Volunteer Coordinator won the 2018 Volunteer Manager of the Year award
Congratulations to Sara Murphy, V-SAC Volunteer Coordinator in the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ), who won the Volunteer Ireland award in the category of 2018 Volunteer Manager of the Year on Friday 7th December 2018. This is a tremendous achievement for Sara and V-SAC.
Sara’s profile and story can be seen by clicking the link below.
People assisted in 2019
In 2019, Victim Support at Court (V-SAC) provided free and confidential support to 1,482 victims of crime, prosecution witnesses and their family/friends, an increase of 8% compared to 2018. This was mainly due to its recent expansion into the Eastern and South Eastern Circuit Courts. Countrywide support was provided for 629 trials/hearings, including pre-trial visits, sentencing, retrials and appeals, involving offences such as murder, manslaughter, death by dangerous driving, rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and assault, among others. V-SAC’s 50+ trained volunteers gave 1,418 days of their own time to support victims of all types of crime. V-SAC staff and volunteers had 5,435 individual contacts with the victims, their friends and families and prosecution witnesses.
V-SAC’s mentioned in the news
V-SAC featured in a number of papers recently. The articles highlighted V-SAC’s free service available to victims of crime, prosecution witnesses and their family and friends while they attend court. V-SAC are expanding into the Eastern and Southeastern Circuit Courts. Click on the links below for the full newspaper articles and radio interviews given.
https://www.irishlegal.com/article/victim-support-charity-expanding-court-accompaniment-services
https://kclr96fm.com/volunteers-sought-carlow-kilkenny-accompany-victims-court/
https://www.newsgroup.ie/volunteers-sought-to-support-victims-of-crime/
V-SAC are expanding its service
V-SAC are expanding the court accompaniment service into the Eastern and South Circuit Courts. The services are free and available to anyone who has been a victim of crime and are due to attend court. V-SAC also supports victims in pre-trial visits, sentencing hearings, retrials, and appeals.
V-SAC are currently recruiting volunteers for these regions and full training is provided. If you are from Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Nenagh, Portlaoise, Naas, Trim, Dundalk or Bray and are interested in volunteering, check out the Volunteering tab for more details.