Rape Crisis Scotland's chief executive has expressed regret to rape survivors who were let down by shortcomings at the network's Edinburgh support service.

According to Sandy Brindley, an assessment conducted at the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre under the leadership of Mridul Wadhwa, who resigned this month due to criticism of her position on women-only services, revealed "significant failings."

According to an assessment conducted on behalf of Rape Crisis Scotland, Wadhwa was unaware of her authority's limitations, and the ERCC had violated national service standards by failing to provide women-only areas for 16 months.

Brindley has faced growing calls to quit, including from JK Rowling, over accusations she had failed to intervene sooner over the mismanagement at ERCC and had been complicit in its culture there.

Wadhwa, a trans woman who has worked in the gender violence and equalities sectors in Scotland since 2005, has been at the centre of long-running disputes over her conviction that rejecting support from trans counsellors is transphobic.

She was named in an employment tribunal ruling in May, which found that a counsellor at ERCC, Roz Adams, had been constructively dismissed because she expressed gender critical views. It found Adams had been subjected to a “heresy hunt” because Wadhwa decided she was transphobic. “This led to a completely spurious and mishandled disciplinary process,” the tribunal said.

Brindley told BBC Scotland that local rape crisis centres were autonomous, and that Rape Crisis Scotland had no role in appointing their staff. She had no involvement in Wadhwa’s appointment but defended the policy of including trans people in its services.

“What I would say is that most rape crisis centres in Scotland provide support to men, women, trans people and non-binary people,” she said. “There is no inherent reason within that, that you could not have a trans person working within a rape crisis centre. I think what is crucial, however, is that if you do have a rape crisis service that is supporting all survivors is that there’s dedicated women-only spaces within that.”

Brindley accepted that rape and sexual assault survivors in Scotland needed reassurance about the quality of service they would receive, but said she would not resign.

“I really believe in this movement. We have achieved so much, working with survivors, working with staff, working with volunteers. I feel there’s still a lot to do, and as long as I feel that I can contribute to that and make a difference for survivors, I will be staying.”

Source: The Guardian