FINALLY!! Irish Justice System Prevails!...for once

PRE_10_DER · 20-12-2004 11:58pm #1

Taken from the RTE site

Youth given life sentence for Coolock murder

A 17-year-old youth has been jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of schoolboy Alan Higgins two years ago.

Christopher Dunne of Millwood Villas, Kilbarrack was also given a concurrent 13-year sentence, with the last four years suspended, for robbing a mobile phone and a wallet from Alan Higgins outside the UCI Cinema in Coolock.

Two others, Michael Maher of Cromcastle, Kilmore West and Anthony Whelan of Millwood Villas, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Higgins.

Maher was sentenced to 10 years, seven of which were suspended. Whelan was sentenced to eight years with six of these suspended.

Mr Justice Abbot said that Dunne had engaged in an evening-long campaign of banditry - assaulting and robbing a number of others before stabbing Alan Higgins to death.

Defence lawyers had argued that Dunne, who was 15 at the time of the offence, should be viewed by the court as a child for the purposes of sentencing.

However, Mr Justice Abbot rejected the argument and imposed the mandatory life sentence.

Dunne stabbed Alan Higgins with a steak knife outside the cinema complex in Coolock in October 2002.

Kevin_rc_ie · 21-12-2004 12:04am

i think this is a just punishment. well under certain conditions.

he does about 6-8 years and gets out.

he was genuiunely remorseful. how relevant this is is another matter.

he was only 15 at the time.

other than punishment and maybe a possible detterent to others there will not be many benefits of many years in the 'joy.

the young lad was a cousin of a friend and i feel very sad for his family.

JackKelly · 21-12-2004 12:07am

thank god.

I know the girl who was with him on that night. And from the sounds of things, that guy should never be allowed see the light of day again.****er

Stark · 21-12-2004 12:08am

Thank god for that. Now if only some of the scum living in my area could be locked up.

elivsvonchiaing · 21-12-2004 12:16am

In the immortal words of the mortal David Blunkett - "This calls for a bottle of wine!" (Dr Shipman's death in prison)

I do think the scumbag should never see the light of day again, though! I don't think people shouldn't be given second chances or anything - after he has won at least one Nobel prize for something maybe then he gets out... If only this were the case

PRE_10_DER · 21-12-2004 12:20am

or possibly if he finds a cure for cancer?? *maybe!!* we can let him out then?

Stark · 21-12-2004 12:34am

or possibly if he finds a cure for cancer?? *maybe!!* we can let him out then?

Once the cure for cancer doesn't involve killing them in a different manner.

ShiverinEskimo · 21-12-2004 12:49am

I was following this in the papers this week. Did anyone read the statement from the murdered lad's mother. God it was awful reading it. The young fella battled cancer as a wee fella, once he made it through that the mother thought he was home free until some scum of earth with a knife fancied another mobile phone..makes you think, you just cannot predict whats coming..

billy the squid · 21-12-2004 12:54am

It is a sad state of affairs that justice has to wait for someone to actually die before they deal with uncultivated and unruly teenagers. The same thing happened with patric slattery in Limerick, his antisocial behaviour was ignored until that four year old baby died in that house fire he started.

it was only then that the guards got up off their arses and decided to arrest him.

seamus · 21-12-2004 12:58am

Marge: That's crazy. Look, I know I don't have any proof, but this woman *is* trying to kill me.
Wiggum: [sigh] Fine, let me tell you what I tell everybody who comes in here: the law is powerless to help you.
Marge: Do I have to be dead before you'll help me?
Wiggum: Well, not dead -- dying.
[Marge gets up to leave]
No, no, no, no. Don't walk away. How about this: just show me the knife ... in your back.
Marge leaves]
Not too deep, but it should be able to stand by itself.

It's so true it's not even funny.

billy the squid · 21-12-2004 1:04am

seamus wrote:

It's so true it's not even funny.

it wouldnt be too much effort for the guards to arrest and charge someone for putting a brick through someones windscreen, or for stealing someones mobile phone.

the reasont people die at the hands of these people is because up until that point their activities are being ignored by the guards.

in short they get cocky and push their luck

Evilution · 21-12-2004 1:12am

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

he was genuiunely remorseful...

Me arse he was Kev. Crocodile tears.
May he rot in hell....or at least the D-wing of Stone Island.

elivsvonchiaing · 21-12-2004 1:33am

There is a similar case (not even sure if it's not this one) where the mother of the victim committed suicide... One teenage arsehole gets to destroy many worlds- Personally I would crucify the cúnt in private show him the video - then the crematorioum - where he and the tape were destined. And burn the pair of them - have kettle on boil for Gardai who may call - "Gwan! Gwan! Seargeant have another mister Kipling!"

"So if ya don't mind me askin' what is this ash from?" "Aw that's a sorry story guard!" - "There's mine and me neighbours christmas trees, my neighbours dog, who was much loved for many years - an unusual dog - in fact it had a pacemaker

"

the_syco · 21-12-2004 1:41am

In this country "life" means 15 to 25 years, depending if you "regret" stabbing him, and getting caught with €1,500 of cocaine, days before the murder trial started.

Dave · 21-12-2004 1:51am

Of course he ****ing regrets it. He was caught wasn't he. If he wasn't I suppose it would've been a case of "You shoulda seen de state of dis fella I stabbed the other week"

Phil_321 · 21-12-2004 2:22am

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

other than punishment and maybe a possible detterent to others there will not be many benefits of many years in the 'joy.

There'll also be the benefit of having one less trouble causing scumbag at large in society.

Lemming · 21-12-2004 2:32am

Kevin_rc_ie wrote:

he was genuiunely remorseful. how relevant this is is another matter.

So remorseful that the defense consul was directed to apologise to Alan's mother for him .....

She of course said that she could not accept an apology made by someone, through someone else ....

joseph brand · 21-12-2004 2:49am

@elivsvonchiaing

http://www.rte.ie/news/1999/1111/life.html

His mother later committed suicide and only the Father and younger brother are left. The surviving brother is a friend of my sister's, I can't even begin to imagine how he deals with his new 'Life'!

elivsvonchiaing · 21-12-2004 3:50am

joseph brand wrote:

@elivsvonchiaing

http://www.rte.ie/news/1999/1111/life.html

His mother later committed suicide and only the Father and younger brother are left. The surviving brother is a friend of my sister's, I can't even begin to imagine how he deals with his new 'Life'!

Complete blank - I have never tasted these people and have no idea what you're talking about!

Ps. you are sicker than me - I don't even get bronze here - you get gold- no argument

ixoy · 21-12-2004 10:14am

Dave wrote:

Of course he ****ing regrets it. He was caught wasn't he.

Exactly. His lawyer probably had to enforce the idea to his addled brain that the only chance he had now was to shed a few crocodile tears and pray that the jury would buy it. They didn't and that's good. I'm glad to see the bleeding heart liberal bridgade haven't come out yet and that the good Irish citizens appointed to the case have seen fit to distribute proper retributive justice. If only we can someone get more of these scum off the streat without having to hear constantly how all the damned remand centres are full

Lump · 21-12-2004 10:38am

DO THE CRIME, DO THE TIME....

Or something along those lines. Who cares if he was 15... he murdered some one FFS.

John

uberwolf · 21-12-2004 10:46am

justice prevailing? see the lengths of those suspensions? two of those lads will be out in months for time served awaiting trial...

Gurgle · 21-12-2004 10:49am

billy the squid wrote:

it wouldnt be too much effort for the guards to arrest and charge someone for putting a brick through someones windscreen, or for stealing someones mobile phone.

They do, all the time.
Said scumbag is back on the street within hours.

Remember that prime time program early this year ?

Some of these scumbags have 70 or 80 convictions behind them by the time they actually kill someone. Even then it usually gets diluted down to 'assault causing harm' and they get a suspended sentence or community service.

The gardai imho are doing all they can, its the judges that let the whole system down.

skywalker · 21-12-2004 11:29am

Lump wrote:

DO THE CRIME, DO THE TIME....

Or something along those lines. Who cares if he was 15... he murdered some one FFS.

John

i dont think ive ever agreed with one of your posts, until now. let the ****er rot. alan higgins wont be coming home any time soon so why should this scumbag.

Stark · 21-12-2004 1:02pm

In my bleeding heart liberal days* I used to be totally against the death penalty but these days I'm not so sure. I figure these people have none of the things that make us human - emotion, guilt, empathy, conscience, remorse etc., all the things that we would consider to make up a "soul". It's a totally different scenario to teenagers who are merely troubled and acting out. If they ever get to repress their instincts it will be because it suits them not because of conscience. If society has no qualms about say killing a gentle cow/pig etc. for meat then they should have no qualms about weeding out these beasts.

* It's like that saying. "If you're not left wing when you're young you have no soul, if you're not right wing when you're old you have no brain

Gurgle · 21-12-2004 1:11pm

Stark wrote:

they should have no qualms about weeding out these beasts.

I absolutely 100% agree with the sentiment.

There are a few problems with capital punishment though, top of the list being reversibility. You would have to have absolute faith that the justice system would never ever convict someone innocent.

I don't.

Trebor · 21-12-2004 1:35pm

Gurgle wrote:

I absolutely 100% agree with the sentiment.

There are a few problems with capital punishment though, top of the list being reversibility. You would have to have absolute faith that the justice system would never ever convict someone innocent.

I don't.

i would have to agree with this aswell, best thing bring back corpral punishment and let the gaurds kick lumps out of people for small offenses like stealing, anti-social behaviour and other small crimes that waste too much time and money in the courts for the guy just to get off with a warning. a broken arm, that should be warning enough!!! and if they were proved wrong they could offer comenpsation

Kersh · 21-12-2004 1:48pm

I firmly believe scum like him should be sentenced to death.
Premeditated robbery/murder for a ****in phone..... and he only got a life sentence. And as for the suspended sentences his 'mates' got, they should have got life. scum, scum, scum, you can spot them by the way they look.

Lump · 21-12-2004 1:50pm

skywalker wrote:

i dont think ive ever agreed with one of your posts, until now. let the ****er rot. alan higgins wont be coming home any time soon so why should this scumbag.

He he, I assumed everyone ignored me up until now!

John

JackKelly · 21-12-2004 2:28pm

this seems one of the few posts on boards, that Everyone agree's with.

Blub2k4 · 21-12-2004 2:43pm

TimAy wrote:

this seems one of the few posts on boards, that Everyone agree's with.

Or that some dont bother reply to cos the moral brigade are out on their high horses again, with the usual dross about "bleeding heart liberals".

FINALLY!! Irish Justice System Prevails!...for once

Comments