FIANNA Fáil councillor Catherine Slattery called on Limerick City and County Council to write to Justice Minister Helen McEntee asking the law to be changed for victims of violent assault.
Cllr Slattery said at this month’s meeting of the local authority that she was proposing the motion in response to 22-year-old former Irish soldier Cathal Crotty receiving a suspended sentence in June for violently attacking 24-year-old Natasha O’Brien in Limerick City two years ago.
“The judge on the day decided to fully suspend the three-year sentence, noting there will be no doubt the soldier’s army career will be finished by jail time. What about the victim? And the victims of other such violent crimes, do their lives and futures not matter?” the City East representative asked.
The Fianna Fáil councillors said that “victims of violent crime do not forget what happened to them”.
“They suffer serious PTSD, which can affect them for the rest of their lives, not to mention the injuries sustained in the attacks.”
She lamented the discretion judges have in handing down sentences, calling for a legislative change to provide for mandatory and lengthy custodial sentences for crimes involving violence towards women.
“Is violence against women any less serious than a person caught with drugs?” she asked.
The motion was seconded by Cllr Bridie Collins (FF).
Social Democrats councillor Elisa O’Donovan told council members that she didn’t think the issue is with the law and legislation.
“I think Natasha O’Brien has been very clear on this. The legislation is there, and it is absolutely fine. It is the interpretation of that legislation that is the issue,” she suggested.
Cllr O’Donovan said that she works regularly with the Mid West Rape Crisis Centre, who would say that “it is the institutions that uphold our legislation where the education needs to take place”.
“Within our legal system and our judges, we need better education in relation to them interpreting the law and giving proper justice for people.”
According to Fine Gael man Liam Galvin, respect is gone in people.
“I grew up in a house with six sisters and a mother. There was seven women inside my house and I can guarantee you, if you laid a finger on one of them, in my father’s time, Lord have mercy upon him, you knew about it.”
Independent councillor John O’Donoghue took the view that violent assault was violent assault whether it was against “man, woman, or child”.
Fine Gael councillor Stephen Keary was also of the opinion that violent assault was not singular to “ladies or females”.
”The law has not been dished out to people who commit crime on male people as well. The judiciary are letting us down big time,” he said.
“They are well paid but don’t seem to have the courage to do what they should do. It is time for them to stop and do their jobs properly.”
