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

Sorry now, but that's ridiculous, demand a retrial!! He was found guilty and convicted so the correct verdict was made. It's the final sentence that is the issue. That's where the DPP has to decide whether or not to appeal it.

By all means let her take a civil action against him. He's probably on 40 grand or so with the military but not for much longer.

This judge Tom O Donnell has been given very dangerous people lenient sentences for years and the people of Limerick city and county have suffered badly as a result with criminals laughing at the law abiding as they robbed and attacked the ordinary people of limerick .
he also gave a suspended sentence to a youth who beat a homeless person to pulp this week , the people of limerick deserve some protection from the legal system !

She could sue him and if he had caused the same physical injuries by accidentally while driving, she would be awarded at least €60k by the High Court, a lot more if she proved that the accident caused her the same level of psychological trauma.

But she would be mad to sue him now. She might be awarded a vast sum but she wouldn’t get a penny and her legal fees would be massive. The €3K. in the criminal court is an insult but typical of the criminal courts which fix an amount they think the defendant can realistically pay, not what the victim should get.

I’dimagine vast majority people marching want violent scum jailed for assaults. Not just violent scum who beat women. Silly to think otherwise

Very true.

Do you remember when they all came out protesting when those women all got suspended sentences for their roles in the crime? No? Well that's because it never happened. Women overwhelmingly get suspended sentences for all sorts of crime and nobody says a thing about it. Kill someone...even your own kids....no jail time, just some time in a psychiatric hospital to get your head straight.

Helen Woketee and her coat tail huggers need to get real. This was a crime that deserved a custodial sentence IMO, but it was NOT gender based violence. The feminazi groups clearly have nothing else to whine about, so have got their claws into this story because a man attacked a woman. Put him in jail, but don't twist it into something it's not.

Paid what they're worth.

What do you mean by that?

A disgraceful Editorial in the Sindo whitewashes the role of the Defence Forces.

During the hearing, a Defence Forces commandant gave evidence that Crotty was a “professional” and “disciplined” soldier. He said he was “exceptionally disappointed and surprised”, describing the attack as “very out of character”.
The commandant said he was required to att­end criminal cases involving Irish soldiers and to report back to superior officers on matters that might ­affect a soldier’s future in the forces. The Defence Forces have confirmed a disciplinary process is now under way involving Crotty.

Could anyone do a better job of under-stating Cmdt. Togher’s central role? Omits the key words “exemplary” and “courteous”. Doesn’t say that Togher only mentioned Crotty’s horrible crime when the Prosecutor decided to cross-examine. Says he had to attend and report - but not sing the praises of the guilty man.

Doesn’t even mention the Tribunal of Inquiry established this week to investigate sexual harassment in the Defence Forces (what a telling coincidence!)

And what is the Editor’s only proposal - the politicians should amend the law. Exactly what should not be done in response to a case with extremely rare circumstances (vicious assault on a woman by a total stranger with no sexual motive on a busy street). The proper response to this case is obvious - punish the criminal and maintain respect for the Defence Forces.

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/editorial/editorial-suspended-sentence-for-soldier-cathal-crotty-in-natasha-obrien-assault-case-must-be-reviewed/a919809508.html

The commander is duty bound to say what he sees and give an honest evidence based account of him. All I'm getting from this is that he's very well behaved at work.

If he stood in front of the judge and claimed Crotty came across as a womanbeater that would be giving an opinion, not an account, however true it may be

His father is the one who should have kept his mouth shut, blaming the media for reporting the news, which the media is duty bound to do

On the passer-by who intervened.. reading a quote from Natasha, she said if it wasn’t for her friend intervening she could have been killed. Was it her friend who made Crotty stop and flee? Not aware any quote from Natasha about a passer-by (or someone she didn’t know).

Absolutely nothing to do with her but the people responsible for this fiasco will be grateful to you and the Editor of the Sindo for this misdirection.

on the misogynistic thing…

would Cathal Crotty have beaten a lad who had told to stop shouting gay slurs? Possibly. Certainly if he thought he could take him on. Did he pick on Natasha particularly because she was a woman? I dunno. You’d need to know him to state that. Certainly unprovoked attacks happen to men too. But the “two to put her down” post kind of points to a misogynist leaning.

Now, the court case. Would the judge have told a man who’d been knocked unconscious in an unprovoked attack that he should be happy that Mr Crotty had pleaded guilty and spared him the trauma of a trial? Not likely. Might he have spared Crotty a sentence anyway? Well, the judge is clearly cracked so maybe.

It’s not the best case to pick out. If it was a man spared a sentence for beating his wife or girlfriend that’d be different.

The media shouldn't really be going to the guys house though, who invited them? Also dont believe a word the media says, we all know what they are like.

Trust me the inquiry will find plenty of issues to address.

But Tougher was called as a witness, not a character reference. He didn't sing his praises, he described his behaviour while in the df. A person can be very different in and out of their job.

Clearly Crottys defence was to try mitigate the assault by claiming he's not a violent person, and they used his military service to try support this.