Suspended sentence for soldier who beat woman unconscious.

[NitroNine]

A soldier who responded to a request to stop shouting homophobic abuse at passers-by by beating the woman who made it until she lost consciousness - ceasing only when passer-by intervened - has been given a 3-year suspended sentence & €3000 payment to the victim.

The judge was utterly focused on protecting this thug’s career. He’s never been caught being violent before so why she he lose his career - in the way his victim did in the aftermath of the attack? Who better to be in the army than someone incapable of controlling their temper; unwilling to take responsibility for their actions; & dishonest (he initially told the Gardaí his victim had attacked him)?

Absolutely disgraceful.

I don’t think the outcome is going to stand. I suspect he is about to be booted out of the army and his sentence appealed for leniency however it has shone a spot light once again on cultural norms around misogyny in Ireland.

10th rule of misogyny: The worst thing about male violence is that it makes men look bad.

That’s Irish judges for ya - god forbid a man’s career be ruined by him attacking or raping a woman (or in some cases a child). I’ve seen too many lenient judgements regarding men harming women (and children) over the years to have faith in the legal system in Ireland any more.

I don’t know if it’s the actual law itself that is at fault because it doesn’t take this type of violence against women seriously enough or if it’s purely the mindset of the judges but whatever it is, it stinks to high heaven that women can’t get proper, consistent justice in Ireland.

I agree. After decades of domestic violence and ongoing coercive control and abuse, a family member was not granted a protection order by a judge who I suspect was closer in outlook to the abuser than the victim based on the way the judge behaved throughout the hearing. It was an absolute eye opener. The judge said after 40 years of marriage I’m sure you can find some way to sort it out between you. Meanwhile another family member got an order of protection from the same abuser even though the circumstances were far, far less from a second judge.

Just a word of warning in case anyone else does what I did.....
I have had a response from the office of DPP to tell me it's against the law to write to the Director requesting her to appeal a sentence which may be considered unduly lenient (as a member of the general public).

So that's me told! Although I didn't request her to appeal the sentence, I simply said how disgusted I was by it and how I hope and pray it's challenged.

I wonder will Helen McEntee even acknowledge my email.

Every day is a school day. Did they say against the law to write to them or not within their remit to consider your submission?? I am really surprised that it would be against the law to write to them.

The bit in bold is a quote... it's against the law to write to the Director requesting her to appeal a sentence which may be considered unduly lenient. Exceptions are made in the case of:
· a victim of crime;
· a family member of a victim of crime;
· a lawyer, doctor or social worker acting on behalf of a client.
......
I appreciate that you may not have been aware of the above restriction when writing to the Director

.. so not against the law to contact them but to request an appeal.
What are the chances that I get charged with something? Doubtful I'm sure, but who knows with this government 🤔

https://www.dppireland.ie/publication/the-role-of-the-dpp/ details who can contact the DPP and on what grounds..

Sorry @TaTuirseOrm ... Ta tuirse orm fresin.
Is sampla eile é seo den chaoi a bhfeictear go bhfuil níos lú luach ag baint le saol na mban ná mar atá ag saol na bhfear.

This is another example of the fact that the lives of women are considered to have less value than the lives of men.

In the height of the reporting of historic sexual abuse in the church and in school, I remember noting that the cases of men received much more attention than the cases of women and reading that the rape of a boy was more abhorrent and 'unnatural' than the rape of a girl, even when it was a family member who was the abuser.. and another article which calculated the financial impact of childhood sex abuse on boys and girls and valued the impact on men as higher because they would be less likely to take time out from working, than women. All I could see through the tears and the anger was that women's lives are worth less.. .. or even worthless... it makes me cry... every time ... I think of the lives of girls and women that I know, that have been destroyed, compounded by the fact that their suffering is deemed to be simply a part of being a woman... I could spend an hour repeating the odious comments made by men, minimising the impact of male violence on women and protecting the lives of men... 'there is no point dragging all that up now'.. 'would you really want the police knocking on his door'... 'some people experience much worse and go on to live full lives'.. 'depression is a chemical imbalance'.. 'sure, she has always been a difficult personality'..

It makes me sweary and angry.... will this ever change?

He should be in prison forever. He's going to kill a woman someday.

GRMA @ChateauMargaux
I hate to put down another woman but Helen McEntee is fucking useless 😠 😡

I remember her walking around Talbot Street in the aftermath of t the Stephen Tremini attack saying Dublin City is safe... yes, safe for her surrounded by Gardaí. But as someone who works around that area I can tell you it does not feel safe at all. The lawlessness around there is rife, the whole area stinks of weed and even at 5pm on a weekend I feel very uneasy.

In the height of the reporting of historic sexual abuse in the church and in school, I remember noting that the cases of men received much more attention than the cases of women and reading that the rape of a boy was more abhorrent and 'unnatural' than the rape of a girl

I can recall years ago the reporting of a rape case where the victim was a boy and the outpouring of sympathy. There was a follow up article pointing out that it's just as bad for women but they don't get anything like the same sympathy because society expects women to suffer sexual violence at some stage in their lives so of course society's going to find male rape worse.

In other words if you're a woman sexual assault or rape is just part of the job description.

Wish I could recall the details but it was pre-internet.

Wow that is surprising. Actually shocking.

C’mon now, this Modern Ireland ™️ are we really surprised at bureaucrats taking the time to lecture us on our behaviour rather than actually addressing the problems we, the plebs, are facing? 😏

a quote from the DPP booklet:

"It is against the law for anyone else to ask the DPP to either stop or not to prosecute a case." - that is the only reference to 'it is against the law' in that document...

I would love to see someone challenge the DPP on the right to reach out to figures in public office and share your opinion.

as you said.. @Bigiciuincailin ... bigi ciúin... stop whinging or I will give you something to whinge about!

This is awful!

If he can do this to a stranger imagine what he would do to a partner who made him angry.

This is scary behaviour.
He could have killed her.

Completely unfit for being a soldier. Cant even keep to basic civvie rule of engagement "don't beat the utter fuck out of random people" how is he expected to perform correctly under battlefield stress?

I would love to see someone challenge the DPP on the right to reach out to figures in public office and share your opinion.

Tá cead ag duine ar bith beith i dteangmháil leis an DPP, I think it's OK to reach out and share your opinion, it's requesting an appeal that is limited to the three categories of people listed in the DPP's reply, who are people directly affected by the crime. Fair enough, I think.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that male survivors of sexual abuse get much more sympathy than female survivors - like it's worse for boys, somehow, and 'it's harder for men to talk about these things' - yeah, like it's easy for us..

In Ireland, 'child sexual abuse' became almost synonymous with abuse of little boys, by priests, whereas we all know that girls are more likely to be abused, and by family members. Abuser=priest, victim=boy, so the majority of abusers were let off the hook and the majority of victims were ignored.

@MarieDeGournay .. @TaTuirseOrm didn't request an appeal... she expressed her disgust and her hope that it would be challenged.... but she was not so subtly threatened with the weight of the law..

Thank you for coming to sit with me in my anger.

Disgusting, imagine if a woman did this to a man. It would be bad if she were the one being homophobic but HE was and she called him out on it. Be a homophobic, violent and cowardly man in the forces? Get out of jail card. Weaker innocent woman actually speaking out, knock her out, throw some cash at her to make it ok. Bloody disgraceful.🤬

Absolute disgrace, I hope the sentence can be reviewed under Irish law

In the report I read, it said when the passerby intervened, he ran off. However, his friends remained at the scene. That means they stood there watching him beat the crap out of victim.

I wonder if the friends are also soldiers and if so, whether any disciplinary action being taken against them. It most certainly should be as that is surely behaviour unbecoming etc.

Things are definitely going back for women.
It's as if we really are a subclass who deserve no care, empathy, safety, boundaries or protection.

This is going to get do much worse before it gets better...it's terrifying.

Shocking!

There’s a lot of discussion of the case coming up on my “for you” page on TwiX. Huge amounts of disgust at both the crime & the sentencing from what seems like a pretty broad cross-section of people - you’d hope for that response, obviously, but you’d not always get it.