Five suspended life sentences?!!?

Tha Gopher · 23-07-2007 8:48pm #1

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0723/midwest.html

It rather reminds me, as I said in the News forum, how men who murder their families are portrayed as thugs and cold bastards, and all women in the same position shown to be confused and depressed

What are the rules regarding a suspended life sentence? If it was, lets say, covering 10 years, does someone who gets arrested for drunk and disorderly really face life? Its unprecedented I would think

aequinoctium · 23-07-2007 8:50pm

a real puzzle

445279.ie · 23-07-2007 8:54pm

From reading the report the husband seems to have been very forgiving.

Said they are a million times stronger :eek:

Nevyn · 23-07-2007 9:04pm

Ah the joys of postnatal depression.

meglome · 23-07-2007 9:07pm

She has a history of mental illness but it does appear she got off pretty lightly.

Tha Gopher · 23-07-2007 9:07pm

As opposed to any form of male depression? I dont think either is an excuse for murder, but for whatever reason the media and judicary treat them differently.

nesf · 23-07-2007 9:16pm

Attempted murder isn't murder and in fairness if she's already back living with her husband and kids and nothing else has happened then it could be said that she isn't presently a danger to anyone and that it could have been an isolated incident based on a mental illness episode.

Five suspended life sentences is a bit crazy though.

Nevyn · 23-07-2007 9:18pm

Tha Gopher wrote:

As opposed to any form of male depression? I dont think either is an excuse for murder, but for whatever reason the media and judicary treat them differently.

That type is very different if you don't know then I suggest you do some research.

Victor · 23-07-2007 9:20pm

She is either ill and in need of care or she is a criminal. I see a gross injustice.

PeakOutput · 23-07-2007 9:20pm

she was found guilty of five counts of attempted murder not attempted murder due to diminished responsibility(if that exists) so her mental state at the time is irrelvant.....she got off due to current mental illness which a psychiatrist specifically said she was exaggerating to avoid jail..........

ridicolous

seamus · 23-07-2007 9:21pm

She's clearly a cold, calculating bitch. The state showed that (a) She had multiple affairs with men under an assumed name, and (b) soon before the fire had rented an apartment, taken out a few life insurance policies, and kept them in the apartment. Yet somehow she managed to convince her husband and the judge clearly that she believed her home was possessed :rolleyes:
The husband is clearly an idiot.

Suspending a life sentence is a joke. It's a contradiction in terms.

I agree with Tha Gopher - There's a sexist biase in the State and the public against men. Men who murder their wives are cold heartless murdering bastards, whereas women who do the same are just confused and in mental anguish, God bless the poor things.

nesf · 23-07-2007 9:22pm

Well, Justice Carney does have quite the penchant for suspended sentences.

the_syco · 23-07-2007 9:36pm

seamus wrote:

I agree with Tha Gopher - There's a sexist biase in the State and the public against men. Men who murder their wives are cold heartless murdering bastards, whereas women who do the same are just confused and in mental anguish, God bless the poor things.

I wonder what she'll be called when she actually succeeds?

Victor · 23-07-2007 9:45pm

I might have suspended the sentences for attempted murder and given her 10-life for arson.

Tha Gopher · 23-07-2007 11:02pm

Thaedydal wrote:

That type is very different if you don't know then I suggest you do some research.

So post natal depression is a more, shall we say, sympathy worthy illness than, say schizophrenia or paranoia in males?

Do explain.

oneeyedsnake · 23-07-2007 11:09pm

I wonder will the husband feel the same way if he is woken up for a split second as his little bunny boiler sinks a knife into his heart

Nevyn · 23-07-2007 11:13pm

This is AFTERHOURS, if you think I am going to try and get into the differences your more fúcked in the head than even I imagined

Schozpherinics and those who are suffering from paranoid schizophrenia tend to kill them selfs rather then others.

PeakOutput · 23-07-2007 11:27pm

Thaedydal wrote:

This is AFTERHOURS, if you think I am going to try and get into the differences your more fúcked in the head than even I imagined

Schozpherinics and those who are suffering from paranoid schizophrenia tend to kill them selfs rather then others.

mental illness is mental illness...........its either grounds for mitigating circumstances or its not

nesf · 23-07-2007 11:35pm

A mental illness debate on AH?

O_o

Capt'n Midnight · 23-07-2007 11:58pm

I'm still upset that yer man in Sligo got off on mental illness because the gun jammed when he tried to kill a third person, then skipped from the lunny bin to the UK.

So I can in part understand that the sentences are suspended on condition she keeps getting teatment, if she misses treatment then 5 X life. But there should be some conditions on defining her as cured, in case there is a repeat of the Ernst Saunders case where someone recovers form an incurable disease once they've benefited from the leniency of the court. I would at least expect regular medical attention until at least the prison term would have ended.

Love is sometimes blind. In the past there have been numerous cases of partners forgiving an attempt at murder or several and later being killed.

Irish Wolf · 24-07-2007 12:03am

Why five suspended sentences? I thought there were only 4 other people involved.. her husband and three children..?

Reku · 24-07-2007 8:34am

:mad: Perfect example of the on-going sexism in society, the woman is always the victim, regardless of how clear it is that this belief is a load of BS.
Other good examples being that a female can be beating the heck out of a guy but he is expected to just take it (have known girls who admitted to using this to vent on guys for no reason), or 2 people have sex while drunk => the woman can claim rape, a male teacher has a relationship with a female student he's labelled as a paedophile for life, female teacher on a male student - usually just labelled as lonely and thankful for the male attention.

For the love of god tell the feminists start protesting the inequalities that are unjustly in their favour as well as those that are unjust against them, otherwise just sit down, shut up, and be glad for what they have achieved before some sort of misguided backlash starts.

And IMO claims of post-natal depression as an excuse are no more valid than any other claim of mental illness, you might have problems but you still know right from wrong (unless you're a sociopath, but to be honest I don't think they can ever really function properly in a society), afterall being under the influence of drugs does not usually earn you a "get out of jail free card" for what you do, why should any other altered mental state (and yes I feel alcohol should be disputed as a valid excuse for peoples' behaviour, especially since I know people who get drunk entirely to take advantage of this view people hold of how "ah sure, they were drunk, not their fault what they did").

I'll stop here before I go into the racist/ageist/sizeist and social background inequalities in society too...:mad:

Tar.Aldarion · 24-07-2007 9:00am

What? Are they like suspended until her next five lives?

A mental illness debate on AH?

O_o

I imagine it will go like 'What do you got?'

connundrum · 24-07-2007 9:08am

I'm sure she's sorry for attempting murder, and that in itself is good enough for me.

Would it then stand to reason that if you act crazy when taken in to custody, you will improve your chances of a reduced/suspended sentence? Or does this only work if your a woman acting crazy? What if you're a man acting like a crazy woman?

/adds to 'Things to do' list.

Terry · 24-07-2007 9:11am

connundrum wrote:

What if you're a man acting like a crazy woman?

I'll tell you on the 4th of October.

skywalker · 24-07-2007 9:32am

nesf wrote:

Attempted murder isn't murder

Im not sure if Ive misread that, but it really sounds like your playing down the seriousness of attempted murder there. The only difference between attempted murder and murder is the person ****ed it up.

Tar.Aldarion · 24-07-2007 9:36am

Sideshow Bob: You don't get the nobel prize in chemistry for attempted chemistry.
:P

Marksie · 24-07-2007 3:11pm

Irish Wolf wrote:

Why five suspended sentences? I thought there were only 4 other people involved.. her husband and three children..?

She was split personality and tried to kill the dark half.

big b · 24-07-2007 3:26pm

I'm sure there's women up & down the country weighing up the odds of getting a similarly light sentence for offing their men.
Seems in this case there's no punishment and no deterrent.

Still, she only tried to kill a few people. Bless.

nesf · 24-07-2007 5:25pm

skywalker wrote:

Im not sure if Ive misread that, but it really sounds like your playing down the seriousness of attempted murder there. The only difference between attempted murder and murder is the person ****ed it up.

Not at all, only that sentencing tends to be harsher for murder cases from what I've seen over the years. I didn't mean to imply that I agreed with this or anything.

nesf · 24-07-2007 5:28pm

farohar wrote:

And IMO claims of post-natal depression as an excuse are no more valid than any other claim of mental illness, you might have problems but you still know right from wrong (unless you're a sociopath, but to be honest I don't think they can ever really function properly in a society), afterall being under the influence of drugs does not usually earn you a "get out of jail free card" for what you do, why should any other altered mental state (and yes I feel alcohol should be disputed as a valid excuse for peoples' behaviour, especially since I know people who get drunk entirely to take advantage of this view people hold of how "ah sure, they were drunk, not their fault what they did").

I disagree. There is an enormous difference between taking drugs of your own violation and then committing a crime and someone suffering from a mental illness which they have no control over and then committing a crime. It shouldn't (and generally isn't) a get out of jail for free card but there are good grounds for considering it in a case. You do have to take responsibility for your actions but to say that someone doesn't know right from wrong unless they are a sociopath is simply wrong. You're confusing the general sense of that term with the personal sense.

However, I don't for a second believe that everyone who claims mental illness in court actually does have one.

Five suspended life sentences?!!?

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