Soldier brags about beating woman unconscious gets off on suspended sentence…

[SickOfThisSht]

…because judge is concerned about his future career!

I am so utterly and completely sick of this sh*t.

Cothal Cotty (22) beats Natasha O’Brien (24, unknown to him) unconscious because she asks him to stop shouting homophobic slurs. Stops when challenged by another man.
Denies he’s at fault and suggests she started it. Admits fault when confronted with CCTV evidence. Judge hands him suspended sentence and to pay €3,000 to victim because an immediate sentence may affect his career in the army (boo f*cking hoo!).

There you have it folks. Men can get away with beating the consciousness out of us if it may affect their careers.

Couldn't see another post on this but please direct me if there is one.

There is a suggestion to email the Irish Minister for Defence in the comments on the instagram post here and info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8ciGSWM9k9/?igsh=dDY0Ymw2bTVtc29i

BBC coverage: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx77deq8q3do

Looks like protests have been taking place but more noise around it can’t hurt: https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/courts/soldier-assault-victim-says-judge-should-walk-away-with-a-sense-of-utter-shame/a1522776971.html

There has to be some real accountability. There have to be real consequences.

Raising a DD feels so f*cking frightening some times.

(Not sure if this is the right place to post as I’m new to the feminism board but please let me know if not and I’ll ask for it to be moved)

edited as formatting went a bit funny but can’t seem to change it. Italics are not quotes.

Yes, it’s an absolute disgrace! I am in Ireland and there is a lot of back lash here about it. Protests yesterday and today and now it’s growing bigger I do hope that the appeal goes through.

We are hoping that the North of Ireland which is the UK also gets involved and protests are held there too as their violence against women rulings are also extremely lenient.

This world is getting so much worse, the judges are mostly men and always side with the men no matter how horrific the attack has been. There has been no developments for years and we’re further behind than ever on women’s equality.

An absolute disgrace, he boasted about how many punches and the effect (two to take her down, two to knock her out)
Deserves zero leniency
Sends a message that it’s okay to beat a woman unconscious if you have good career prospects! Beyond bizarre.
Can only hope that the backlash is enough to address this and unfortunately, future cases.

Protests in Cork, Dublin and Limerick. It’s horrifying.

Welcome to the Feminist boards op. Yes, this is a good place to discuss this. The AIBU board seems to have the most traffic so if you want a subject to have a higher profile and reach a wider range of people who wouldn't necessarily describe themselves as feminist then that's another place to put a news item for discussion. This is an appalling story and I'm glad there are people protesting and I hope that there's an appeal against the sentence and that he goes to jail.

Thread on the other feminism board:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5101813-suspended-sentence-for-soldier-who-beat-woman-unconscious

Thank you for the link @yetanotherusernameAgain. Hadn’t seen it but will redirect there 👍🏽

Technically this the right bit of the feminism board for this type of story, but the division is a nit arbitrary and other one gets more traffic. There's also Craicnet for a specifically Irish audience.

There was a spate a few years back of American university rapists being let off for similar reasons 'He's a bright young man and it would damage his future', 'He'd lose his place on the sports team'. No thought at all for the damaged future of the women.

Even when found guilty the sentence doesn’t reflect the crime. How about a man who repeatedly raped a NINE year old, but whose sentence means that he will probably be out of prison before she has finished school.

It just makes me want to weep.

An absolute disgrace, he boasted about how many punches and the effect (two to take her down, two to knock her out)

What baffles me is that he’s boasting about it. Wouldn’t most people despise him?

Natasha was on Woman’s Hour today.
Horrific what that thug did to her.
And he just walked away from court, unbelievable.

I heard her interview this morning on Woman's Hour. She was really impressive. So articulate about the misogyny in the Irish justice system.

Oh, how brilliant that she was on Woman's Hour. I really hope the momentum is kept up on this and he loses his job. Is there any chance of the sentence being looked at again?

There are calls for the sentence to be reviewed but her point was it's not just this sentence that was unduly lenient. In most cases involving crimes against women eg domestic violence the sentences handed out are derisory. She wants to push for a general overhaul in the sentencing of such crimes in general.

Absolutely right. And there needs to be an end to "his career would be ruined" considerations from judges.

I have never understood why a man's criminal's career prospects should be remotely relevant when it comes to sentencing them.

Absolutely unbelievable.

I'm also shocked that the army would want someone like him.

https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2024/06/27/defence-forces-hopes-to-expel-convicted-soldier-cathal-crotty-by-early-next-week/

Also in Ireland, this case:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd1x75lrvnlo

Just a suggestion is to post a link for the contact for the Irish Minister for Defence. Thanks for the story, its outrageous.
As much as the perps need proper justice so do the Judges and Magistrates. They should be dis barred/ struck off removed from any position of judgement asap.

Absolutely they do. It's a disgrace what happened here.