Karl Sutton slammed Tiffany Curtis’ head into the floor and walls. Before she passed out, “she remembered him dancing on her back and telling her he would hurt her baby if she continued to lie.” He received a four-year prison sentence. The entire sentence was suspended.
Raymond McGarry abused a woman at an open-air music event in Athy, which she attended with her children, the youngest of whom was seven years old. He had nine previous convictions. The judge found him “full of remorse” and suspended the 18-month prison sentence he had imposed on him.
Adam Keane took the same train home as Mary Shannon, the woman he raped in her own home, after the judge suspended his three-year prison sentence. In the car park at Ennis train station, “he looked straight at her as he got into his mother’s car, raised his hand and flicked his cigarette butt at her.” Only then was the sentence carried out.
Dainius Sakevicius punched his partner several times in the head and face. She was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital and later transferred to St. James’s Hospital. Sakevicius received a prison sentence of one year and nine months – which was fully suspended.
( Judge at centre of Cathal Crotty controversy retires this week )
Michael Kelly got into a taxi driven by a woman. When she dropped him off in front of his house, he got in without paying the fare. She knocked on the open front door and then put her foot inside to prevent it from being closed. Kelly chased her out into the street and hit her several times. He was sentenced to two years in prison – the sentence was suspended on the condition that he pay his victim €3,000.
We have a distorted system where hundreds of people go to prison for non-violent crimes and non-payment of fines, but violent and dangerous men walk free.
James “Jake” Boles “physically abused” his partner on a weekly basis. This included “dragging the plaintiff along the floor by her hair, putting his hand over her mouth while shouting violent abuse into her ear, and slamming his fist into her face, causing bruising. The court also heard that he pushed the woman down a flight of stairs and on another occasion verbally abused her, slamming her head against a headboard.” The court set the main sentence at three years, deducting one year for his guilty plea and previous good behaviour – and then fully suspended the remaining two years. The Court of Appeal later overturned the verdict and sentenced Boles to one year in prison.
Joe Dunne, who was a priest at the time, sexually abused a vulnerable young woman he claimed to be helping on five occasions, once while actually driving her to a rape crisis centre. He was sentenced to four years in prison – the sentence was entirely suspended. The verdict was overturned on appeal and he was sentenced to two years in prison.
( Naval officer remains on duty despite confessing to violent attack on his ex-girlfriend )
John Redmond harassed a woman who refused to have a relationship with him. He threw a rubbish bin at her and then “pushed her to the ground. When she got up, he pushed her again and she fell against a wall and hit her head.” He received an 18-month prison sentence – entirely suspended on the condition that he pay his victim €5,000.
This is just a random selection of the reported cases. But it is enough to show that what happened to Natasha O’Brien was nothing particularly unusual. She was knocked unconscious by Cathal Crotty in an unprovoked attack on O’Connell Street in Limerick. Crotty boasted about it on Snapchat: “Two to knock her down, two to knock her unconscious.” He received a three-year prison sentence, but it was suspended on the condition that he pay O’Brien €3,000.
This ruling is undoubtedly shocking, not least because the judge said he had taken into account the desirability of preserving Crotty’s “career” in the army. That the judge considered it desirable for a violent homophobe (Crotty had “called other people ‘faggot’ in the street”) and misogynist to continue serving alongside gay and female colleagues is just one of the more incomprehensible aspects of the case.
But if we ignore that particular dimension, and also subtract Natasha O’Brien’s powerful articulation of her entirely justified outrage, this is not an unusual outcome. Without meaning to, the courts have created a pretty good instruction manual for men who attack women. Plead guilty when you realize the evidence is overwhelming. Consider the few thousand euros that are supposed to compensate for the victim’s physical pain, mental trauma, humiliation and loss of self-confidence, trust and even their livelihood. And there’s a very good chance you’ll get away without having seen the inside of a prison cell.
( Justice puts “victims on trial,” says woman who was beaten unconscious by soldier )
The state can, and sometimes does, appeal these suspended sentences. But even if it is successful, the violent criminal still benefits from the original, outrageously lenient sentence. This is not obvious to the public, but appears to be unofficial policy of the higher courts.
In 2020, for example, the Attorney General successfully appealed against an 18-month suspended sentence imposed on Stephen Connor for “a prolonged and quite brutal attack” on his former partner. Judge Úna Ní Raifeartaigh said the appropriate sentence was 2½ years. “However, as it is the court’s established practice to show special mercy when a person’s sentence is commuted from a full suspended sentence to a term of imprisonment on appeal, she said the final year of the sentence would be suspended.”
( “He won’t stop, I’m going to die”: Woman beaten by soldiers sentenced to suspended sentence )
So if the lower court imposes a suspended sentence on an offender, even if the appellate court finds that this does not do justice to the suffering of the victim, it will still grant the offender “special mercy.” Getting almost off means getting at least a partial offence. It’s as if the courts feel an obligation to compensate the offender for their disappointment at having to serve time after all.
This must stop. We have a distorted system where hundreds of people are sent to prison for non-violent crimes and non-payment of fines, but violent and dangerous men walk free. This is the exact opposite of what the public wants. When the administration of justice is so far removed from community values, we can no longer suspend our disbelief.