Soldier beats a woman unconscious, gets a great reference from his commanding officer, avoids jail.

Do we really have to repeat everything that was posted here yesterday?

The "He had to answer questions" bit is just completely full of holes.

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Unless the officer is friends with him outside of work anything he says is only subjective.

I could give glowing work references to those I work with but couldn't tell you anything about their demeanor out of work.

He can only give factual answers based on what he knows.

You can be sure the officer was well aware of what was coming down the road for Crotty post conviction, and there's nothing to suggest he's going to try keep Crotty in the army.

Crotty is VERY, VERY LUCKY that he was not up for murder and he would have to 100% admit guilt because it is there in front of him on the CCTV IF EVEN ONE OF THOSE KICKS/PUNCHES LANDED ON THE JOUGLAR OR A PARTICULAR PARTOF THE BRAIN. He is a very lucky man

He received 3 years of a possible 5, albeit suspended. The DPP know the chance of a sentence being increased by two more years is slim enough and the chance of him being imprisoned off the back of it is smaller again.

I feel (hope) like this will be a watershed moment for sentencing of guilty verdicts for unprovoked attacks.

The amount of suspended or light touch sentencing for these vicious attacks sickens me to the core.

And while this incident is absolutely abhorrent as it was against a defenceless woman, too many young men have also been left dead or maimed for life after these unprovoked or one punch coward attacks.

Google Annie Mulvaney and Advic to see how long campaigns have been going on to help and highlight victim's rights.

I know of several incidents in my own county or neighbouring counties where young men have been left dead or maimed and their perpetrators received the most lenient of sentences that in no way reflects the seriousness of the crime they carried out.

This young lady, Natasha O' Brien I feel will be a huge catalyst in turning the tide against the so called justice system in Ireland. People are really outraged for her and her story is gaining momentum.

I'm sure the last thing this lady ever wanted in life was to be the face of (hopefully) a watershed moment but I would like to commend her courage and bravery for speaking out so eloquently and allowing this debate to snowball.

Best of luck to Natasha in her healing and recovery.

The DPP would know, better then anybody, that a guilty plea to assault would most likely not result in a prison sentence.

A very good turnout in Limerick for the protest and subsequent march. I see RTE are reporting it as @ 500. Perhaps during the early part, but by the time Natasha spoke I'd have but the crowd at closer to 1000.

The crowd seemed to grow more as the march stretched from Sarsfield St to Glentworth st as they proceeded down Henry St.

Unfortunately, nothing will change until they increase the prison capacity. There's nowhere to send these scum.

Is this actually victim blaming. How can you say that?

Fair play to her if it is what happened. More people need to stand up to it.

Would he get in with his record?

Agreed, helicopter in the occasional food and water parcel and let the scum enact Lord of the Flies.

Feck their rights.

Unfortunately there are too many scumbags/drunk/coked up vermin that you simply can't take the chance of intervention anymore.

If we all turn a blind eye then we are letting them win. If more people had been prepared to get involved when he was hitting her, the consequences for her may have been far less severe.

I don't know if it's victim blaming or not.....I don't think anyone would think that girl was at fault in any way for what happened....the blame lies squarely with the attacker.

It's just a sad reality that on balance you personally can be a lot better off not intervening or keeping your head down in most situations...I've lost track of the amount of incidents I've heard about where a well meaning person intervened at the wrong moment and in some cases had both parties turn on them...I'm old at this stage but I remember my parents warning me to keep the head down and not get involved when I was going out etc....I remember a member of a certain community deliberately spitting in my face (I was about 14) to try and get a rise out of me and then in all likelihood beat the **** out of me along with his friend...I was initially so shocked I kept walking in a trance the other way for about a minute before getting so angry I it felt like I was ready to run through a brick wall to get him/them......but by the time that happened they were nowhere to be seen....on reflection I was a lucky boy....they'd probably have beaten the **** out of me or worse I could be one of those stories about the lad thatgot a whack in the wrong part of the head....

Its sad an another potential reason thugs and delinquent teens are emboldened....they tend not to get immediate feedback from people in their surroundings to the degree they might have in the past...you the responsible adult in the room has the most to lose and little or no incentive to act...

Anyway, I don't know but I don't think it's victim blaming, it's just a reality ...the smart move is nearly always not to get involved if at all possible

Even the way you nonchalantly describe what happened to her is a bit sickening.

This is an inexplicable case and it's no wonder wonder people are angry because it also reminds everyone how out of touch the judiciary is in this country. Mind-boggling "sentences" week after week.

So the DPP knew better than anybody that Crotty would most likely get a suspended sentence.

Do you mean that the DPP won't appeal the leniency of the sentence?

But if the other passer by had not intervened either, she would likely be dead. So lucky he didn't live by your rules too.

What you're saying is let the scumbag beat up the gay lad, and if he then turns on someone else who (he says) looked at him wrong while le was doing it, above all, let nobody intervene there either.

Because that's what will happen - everybody keeping their head down just means the scumbags can beat people up for nothing and nobody ever intervenes.

What sort of society is that?