‘Huge outrage’ locally at soldier Crotty’s sentence

SOCIAL Democrats leader and Cork South West TD Holly Cairns has said she has been contacted by a ‘huge’ number of people outraged that a soldier received a fully suspended sentence for beating a Limerick woman unconscious.

Deputy Cairns said the message sent out by the sentencing of the random attack is deeply troubling. ‘I have been contacted by a huge amount of people across West Cork who are shocked and angered by the leniency of the three-year suspended sentence that Cathal Crotty received, despite the savagery of his cowardly attack on Natasha O’Brien,’ she said.

‘Judge Tom O’Donnell, in arriving at his decision, appeared to give Crotty a significant degree of credit for pleading guilty. However, Crotty only did so after being shown CCTV footage of his brutal attack, which clearly showed him punching Natasha at least six times.

‘The judge also took into account the impact that a custodial sentence would have on this man’s army career. The cruel irony here is that the victim was the one who ended up losing her job because of the impact the assault had on her.

“The savagery of this brutal and unprovoked attack, juxtaposed with the court’s apparent overriding concern for Crotty’s career, is deeply troubling,’ said the deputy.

Deputy Cairns also pointed out that Women’s Aid recently revealed that it received more than 40,000 reports of abuse in 2023 – the highest in its 50-year history.

Meanwhile, Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú has called for more training to be provided to Irish judges around sexual and gender-based violence. Ms Ni Mhurchú spent 27 years representing victims of domestic violence in the Irish courts system and highlighted the adverse impact that attacks on women can have on their long-term mental health and employment prospects.

Ní Mhurchú said she is sickened by the trauma that the victim went through. ‘We need to ensure that our courts take a more victim-centred approach, as laid down in the Istanbul convention and EU directive on combating all forms of violence against women. I don’t think that standard was fully reflected in this case,’ she said. She has called for more training for judges presiding over cases involving violence against women. ‘Training could be delivered by other judges, medical practitioners, former victims, and specialist psychologists. The key thing is that the training should be structured and regular, not ad hoc,’ she said.