Light sentencing in Ireland re crime

[LadyEloise1]

Anyone else sick of the light sentences given in Ireland for crime.
I've just seen that a man who raped and sexually abused his youngest sister starting when she was 6 and he was 12 was given 7 and a half year sentence for the rapes. He was given consecutive sentences totalling 5 years for the sexual assaults but the judge decided that sentence would run concurrently with the 7 year term. FFS !!!
Apparently his remorse (yeah right ), the fact he pleaded guilty and he had no previous convictions were mitigating factors. The judge suspended the final 18 months of the sentence, despite the judge saying that the victim was a vulnerable and defenceless child, the offences were humiliating and degrading, that the victim had a right to bodily integrity and that she lived in fear.
Will this child rapist be out in 3 years ?
I am utterly disgusted with this sentence.

www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/man-who-secretly-filmed-lodger-shower-given-suspended-sentence-1626474.html#:~:text=Jessica%20Magee-,A%20man%20who%20secretly%20filmed%20his%20lodger%20while%20she%20was,December%202022%20and%20March%202023.

Apparently 2 weeks for secret recording and harassment in jail is enough.

Martin Nolan's contempt for victim's is horrendous

Oh ! @DublinFemale 🥲
I'm sick of it - the light sentencing.
I hope Irish women will contact their local politicians to complain.
But you'll probably get the stock reply that politicians can't interfere with the judiciary and their decisions.
That's a joke considering most judges in the system were appointed to their positions because of political allegiances.
I believe this system has now changed
Our female Minister for Justice should be doing more - if judges need more education re the effects of these awful crimes on victims then educate them.
Personally I think all you need is common sense and empathy.

It's heartbreaking 💔

All the MOJ has opened yet another NGO.

www.gov.ie/en/news/78a38-launch-of-cuan-the-new-statutory-domestic-sexual-and-gender-based-violence-agency/

All the agencies in the world are of zero relevance where there is no or derisory consequences to sexual violence.

Strong, consistent sentences for crime needs to be implemented also

"All the agencies in the world are of zero relevance where there is no or derisory consequences to sexual violence.
Strong consistent sentences for crime needs to be implemented also."

👏🏻👏🏻hear hear @DublinFemale

I wish I had the confidence to go on Liveline and rail against the injustices done to victims by the lenient sentences given to offenders by one particular judge.
Sadly I'm a wimp.

I no longer live in Ireland but spend most of my holiday time there and this has perplexed me for a long time. Its really frightening that these criminals (predators) serve so little time.
I think it is a mixture of misogyny and some of it is an element of woke thinking : ie no one is really bad deep down, I don't want to 'punish'. There needs to be more oversight of the judiciary.
I'm often shocked at the violent nature of these crimes towards women and children in particular. (One that really shook me was the brutal murder of that beautiful beautician in front of her daughter a few years ago.)
Does anyone happen to know if Ireland has higher rates of violence towards women?
(I know no country is perfect in this regard. I'm in the UK and I wish we were doing better on this issue too.)

A serving Irish soldier, Cathal Crotty, who beat a woman unconscious in a random street attack in Limerick and boasted about it afterwards has walked free from court.

The judge wasn't Martin Nolan.
It was Judge Tom O' Donnell who said ".....He (Crotty) took pride in striking a defenceless female in what was a cowardly, vicious, unprovoked and totally unnecessary assault....."

Yet the Judge allowed him walk free with a suspended three year sentence and he ordered Crotty to pay €3,000 to his victim.

I am appalled by this sentence which I deem pathetic and an insult to the victim.
Crotty's victim is still suffering from the effects of the attack.
Her life has been changed forever by his actions.
I do hope the sentence will be appealed.
I do hope too that our mouthy when it suits them female politicians will start to question such light sentencing by our judges and not hide behind the mantra of political interference and the judiciary.
For years judicial appointments were made by politicians. They were intertwined.

The sentence is an absolute disgrace nothing will be done by any politician.

Maybe the prosecution will appeal the sentence.

He couldn't go to jail cause he will lose his job, the poor girl lost her job due to the aftermath of the attack.

He lied tried to claim provocation. And the army Commandant Paul Togher gave a character reference

Wrong so wrong, women and children in Ireland really are second class citizens.

But the brilliant minister for justice gave us

www.gov.ie/en/press-release/b33e6-minister-mcentee-welcomes-the-board-of-cuan-as-they-convene-for-their-first-meeting/

The head of is Stephanie O'Keeffe who was over cervical check during the scandal

www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/revealed-promotion-for-hse-boss-who-was-criticised-for-her-role-in-cancer-scandal/36933162.html

The women and children in Ireland are in safe hands not.

This latest one has really riled me! It's an absolute disgrace and that judge should be ashamed.
I'm watching The Tonight Show on Virgin 1 right now and Natasha O'Brien is on it - let me just say... she's amazing!!! She sounds so strong, while I know she's suffered, but she is so brave and articulate. Wishing Natasha a bright, happy future 💐
I really hope the DPP challenge that sentence.

Fed up of "the impact it would have on a young man's life" being used as an excuse for letting men in this country away with destroying women's lives. She could have so easily died in that unprovoked assault. He lied about it until confronted with CCTV. Bit we can't have him loosing his job....one which gives him power over others and likely puts a weapon in his hands. He's been given the green light to do the same or much worse in the future.

I can only find this in Journal, I can't find it anywhere else

www.thejournal.ie/defence-forces-begins-process-of-dismissing-soldier-who-beat-a-woman-unconscious-6415327-Jun2024/

DF hands were tied apparently until court case.

Hopefully with a few politicians outcry the DPP will consider appealing the leniency of the sentence.

The reasoning behind the suspension was to ensure he didn't lose his position in army if the article above is true, that reasoning is obsolete

100% gives him access to weapons not mention the training to to strike tactical blows to ensure maximum results with minimum effort.

A homophobic misogynist, DF must be desperate if that is the calibre of recruit their senior staff are giving character references for, in full knowledge he pleaded guilty and all the other facts.

I understand the logic of not wanting to effect someone career for a minor crime but this in no way was a minor crime. If someone should receive a sentence of a month for a crime but doing so would cost them their job then the Courts should absolutely use discretion but if someone should get a 3 year sentence and you're suspending it because of their job then that is an abuse of discretion.

I am sick of so much mitigation on crimes being awarded maybe instead rewarding someone for pleading guilty there should be extra time added for those who don't and make their victims go through a trial or maybe those people shouldn't be eligible for the nonsense that is automatic remittance. If someone had a shitty childhood/comes from a good family how many times should they be allowed to use that for mitigation?

I saw Helen McEntee announcing the other day that the maximum sentences for knife crimes have increased. Great, we need tougher sentencing on knife crimes but a) how much discretion will a Judge have in imposing a tougher sentence and b) if people are sentenced for longer where on earth are they going to be put because no prisons have been built in more than 2 decades in spite of huge population growth.

Oh I was just about to start a thread on this. I don't normally post about the news and I know this is only a drop in the bucket when it comes to violent crime here, but for fucks sake.

The part where the judge pretty much implied that the victim is "lucky" that man pleaded guilty so they don't have to go to trial and drag it out... she has to live with it for life.

And
His superior, Commandant Paul Togher, gave evidence that he was an "exemplary, courteous, professional and disciplined" soldier

No. He isn't. He has just "behaved" himself while in company of his colleagues.

The whole thing is infuriating.

His so called friends don't appear to be much better, they hung around when he ran away but don't appear to have intervened to stop him either.

It was a stranger passing by that stopped him from killing her.

His mates watched the show and are obviously of the same calibre if he felt comfortable enough to boast on SM

"Two to put her down, two to put her out,”

We already had strong sentences for knife crime just not handed out.

Oliver Callan covering the case now on his show.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

What station, I'll listen later

The collusion between the army and the judge makes me sick. Crotty was in the army - he liked that - and if his commanding officer ordered him to plead guilty or risk demotion or dismissal he would obey. So because he did as he was told in his chain of command, his disregard for civil and criminal law, and common decency, he has a let-out clause.

I do not want that piece of shit 'defending' me.

Have any army or ex army women commented?

RTE1 radio @DublinFemale
I rarely listen to him as I listen to Pat Kenny on Newstalk around this time.

Give Oliver his due he also played an interview with the victim Natasha O' Brien after the appalling sentence.

I dread to think how he would react if attacked while on peace keeping duties in a foreign country.

Access to guns and short temper, not to mention an obvious aggressive drunk.

I remember that time in the 80s when one of the worst single-incident fatal attacks on our defence forces was from Michael McAleavey who wanted to go home from Lebanon and check up on his girlfriend, so he shot his fellow soldiers so that he'd be sent back on compassionate leave.

I'd love to think the army has learned something.

This is remnant of 1983 Judge Gannon, letting Declan Flynns murderers walk out of court,

40years later and still nothing has changed.

Victims of crimes being let down.

It comes across as the Judge thinks some pocket money will fix everything.

That girl will never feel safe again, he is free and walking the streets. Not one day of feeling safe from her attacker did she get.

The case is being discussed on The Pat Kenny show on Newstalk now.

So glad the pathetic sentence is getting publicity.

I am, way too often, dismayed and horrified by the sentencing in this country. But somehow this one (Cathal Crotty) has pushed me to my limit. So much so that I have written an email to the DPP, Helen McEntee, and the Defence Forces (this last one primarily to say how repulsive I find it that his CO got up in court and said what a "lovely lad" Cathal Crotty is).