Natasha O'Brien, pictured on O'Connell Street, Limerick, near where she was assaulted in May 2022. Photo: Don Moloney I was disgusted to read about the case where a 22-year-old Defence Forces soldier named Cathal Crotty was given a three-year suspended sentence for a “vicious and “unprovoked” attack on 24-year-old Natasha O’Brien. (‘Soldier in savage attack has no future in the Army’, Irish Independent , June 22).
It was hard to read about the incident in which Crotty knocked Ms O’Brien unconscious in a brutal, savage and unprovoked attack and boasted about it online afterwards. As the repercussions from this case are felt, the first thing that needs to happen is for the Director of Public Prosecution to appeal the leniency of the penalty – it was very lenient under the circumstances. The law allows a sentence of five years, or even 10, if convicted of causing serious injury.
Our Constitution also allows for the removal of judges of the higher courts for stated misbehaviour or incapacity if the Dáil and Seanad pass resolutions to that effect. The word higher court makes it ambiguous, though, so it may require a change in the Constitution to say “any court” and add “incompetence” to the phrase. The judge who heard the case, Judge Tom O’Donnell, should be asked to retire as his judgment in this case was atrocious.
It provides no protection for women and it will certainly not discourage similar thuggish acts. John Fair, Castlebar, Co Mayo Apparently, .
