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

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  • Registered Users Posts: 8,370 ✭✭✭BrianD3


    None of what you posted there makes it a gender based attack. And there's no evidence in the reports that it was a gender based attack. If Crotty started ranting about "women are bitches" etc., then there would be evidence that it was a gender based attack.

    Women being weaker than men and more vulnerable if attacked is an entirely separate issue. And as we know, women are much less likely to be attacked on the street than men are which is why the feminist NGOs and man haters have to lump domestic violence in with this attack to make a bigger story out of it.

    As I posted already, men, at least sober ones, are aware that if they confront a drunk over their behaviour, it could result in dire consequences. Therefore the potential benefit of that action should outweigh the potential cost.

    Men also need to assume that they'll be on their own and that even if there are people around, they're not going to have a posse of white knights jumping in to save them.

    If you get injured and the perp gets a suspended sentence, you won't have anyone organising marches afterwards

    If you die, you won't get saturation media coverage. The President and Taoiseach won't attend your funeral as they did for Ashling Murphy.

    I've no idea who Matt O'Brien is I'm assuming some sort of "tough guy"?. Any such man who thinks he can call out drunks on the street after "sizing them up" is a dangerous idiot and sooner or later will end up injured or in court. No competent self protection instructor would recommend that someone confront someone over verbal abuse on the basis of being able to handle them if they kick off. A professional fighter, male or female could easily get their head kicked in. What if Crotty has a knife? Also, even if you win, you lose. Crotty goes down, bangs his head, dead, and now you're in court trying to defend your actions.

    Suggest you read this, references Geoff Thompson who is a world renowned expert in the field of self protection

    https://www.blackbeltmag.com/the-fence-and-verbal-de-escalation

    Quote: "While many people are primarily enamored with the physical aspects of self-defense, it’s crucial to hone your awareness, assessment, avoidance and control/de-escalation skills, even more so than the associated combat tactics. Mastery of those skills can keep a volatile situation from developing in the first place or prevent one from turning violent. A physical response should be the last resort. Many elements and variables are involved in de-escalation, which is why several books have been written on the topic. I, however, will keep things as succinct as possible so they’re as accessible as possible.

    De-escalation boils down to this acronymic sentence: Don’t AACT to de-escalate.

    Translation: Don’t antagonize, don’t argue, don’t challenge and don’t threaten. Instead, do the opposite. When contextually applicable, cooperate, apologize and/ or deflect the focus of your adversary’s ire through body language and speech. I’ll illustrate what I mean through some scenario-based examples"

    Lee Morrison is another world renowned expert. See in this video where he makes a comment about someone tapping away on their phone and ipod? OMG, victim blaming! I'm ENTITLED to be on my phone! This victim blaming stuff is where people get confused about the difference between the social media world where points scoring and "calling out" others is the aim and the real world where you are dealing with other people who are sometimes drunk and violent.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,968 ✭✭✭Red Silurian


    No he shouldn't have lied as lying in court is perjury and subject to up to 0 days in prison if Tom O Donnell is the judge you are in front of

    If my boss was called to give a statement on me he'd probably use words like "punctual," "hard-working" and "well capable of meeting deadlines." If I had plead guilty to murder I'm not sure what difference it would make to a normal judge though

    I didn't hear her interview, but I will try to find it in my spare time. I'm not going to trust what you say about her identifying him on social media. We do know his friends remained at the scene according to multiple articles about the event including the below from RTE so it easy to see where an assumption that his friends gave details to the cops can be made. The question could legitimately be asked why hid friends didn't give the cops the details when they were presumably asked

    https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2024/0620/1455752-soldier-assault/



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,329 ✭✭✭volchitsa


    You're missing my point, which is that all women are in that situation with all men, all the time. So when she spoke up, she wasn't being reckless in the way some male posters are saying, she was doing what women do all the time when they contradict a man: taking her life in her hands. I think that imbalance of strength requires some recognition in law. Even though most men don't take advantage of it, for those that do, it should be recognised as a specific form of violence so as to stop it becoming the norm from Andrew Tate type eejits.

    IMO.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,505 ✭✭✭eightieschewbaccy


    Are you now classifying the victim as a "dangerous idiot" because they called out a man for homophobic abuse?



  • Registered Users Posts: 27,161 ✭✭✭✭GreeBo


    You evaluate a character (and in fact everything) based on the evidence. Well, actually that's how you should evaluate things, unless you are allowing prejudices to come into your process?

    To be arguably considered bad at it there needs to be some evidence that you missed, failed to take into account, or didnt weigh correctly. Is there some other evidence, outside of this case, that you think the DF should have used to judge his character on?

    I would guess that the point of a character reference is to show that the incident is not normal for the persons character?

    Again, you cant say someone is a bad judge of character if there was no negative evidence relating to the persons character!



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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,318 ✭✭✭KaneToad


    In this case, this wasn't a character reference. Togher was compelled to be there. He was responding to questions put to him in the court proceedings.

    It was not a character reference.

    I'm not totally against character references. O'Higgins makes some good points. But, much like your point, if they were to be disallowed then we should also dispense with victim impact statements. The legal system should be based on facts, evidence and proper application of the law. Not sure that emotion should be brought into it. Justice needs to be blind & fair.

    The cases that grab public attention shouldn't get different treatment.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,968 ✭✭✭Red Silurian


    I agree with you. We get taught by our parents not to intervene with people like Crotty in the way that O Brien did that night so we don't see a similar fate, but it doesn't make it the right thing to do



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,329 ✭✭✭volchitsa


    Do we?? I wasn't. And luckily the passer-by who intervened and saved her hadn't been taught that either.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,968 ✭✭✭Red Silurian


    More good news

    https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/1537494/farewell-event-cancelled-for-limerick-judge-at-centre-of-soldier-assault-case.html

    Also judge Thomas E. O'Donnell's wikipedia page was updated this morning. Not fully accurate as most of us just consider him to be useless



  • Registered Users Posts: 27,161 ✭✭✭✭GreeBo


    I'm not missing the point, I am disagreeing with it.

    You might feel threatened because you are weaker than most men, but that still doesnt mean any attack is gender based.

    There is no evidence that he hated women for example, he went after someone weaker than him. He is a bully for sure, but I dont see why you would bring gender into the equation. Are you 100% sure that he would have attacked all women, or do you think if the women in question was a 6'5" and 18 stone MMA fighter that he still would have attacked her?

    If it was gender based, then her ability to defend herself or beat him is irrelevant, but there is no evidence of this.

    Please dont try to turn every single thing into a gender war. Its tiresome.

    Maybe he hates people with long, dark hair, does that make it a gender attack also?



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  • Registered Users Posts: 16,877 ✭✭✭✭Leg End Reject


    So when she spoke up, she wasn't being reckless in the way some male posters are saying, she was doing what women do all the time when they contradict a man: taking her life in her hands.

    Are we really taking our lives into our own hands whenever we contradict a man? That's really a push and a very unhealthy outlook.



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,318 ✭✭✭KaneToad


    Populist nonsense. Many judges impose non custodial sentences for similar assaults on males & females. Crotty fulfilled a few of the mitigating factors: guilty plea, no offending history and threat to employment. Hence the sentencing outcome.

    I think Crotty is a coward. I think he is scum. I think he is a lowlife. I think he has a high chance of being violent again in the future.



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,761 ✭✭✭✭Danzy


    So this thread seems to be that the Commadant should have refused a court summons and also refused to answer under oath about past reviews.

    Maybe all serving solicitors should also be banned from the pride In Limerick and all Guards.

    You can be near certain that the people most excised about this horrific case are also the type who oppose jails and anything that sounds like hang em high justice, ye wanted a progressive legal system.

    Here it is.

    Suspended sentences for everyone bar the most extreme repeat offenders and even then it's early release before time.

    Crotty is your mess..



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,329 ✭✭✭volchitsa


    I think the problem is that when he beat a woman in an unprovoked attack, then in what way was that "out of character"?

    That's a ridiculous conclusion to come to, just because he'd never previously been caught doing that before.

    "Out of character" would be that he'd been taunted and provoked until he snapped and punched someone. What Crotty did showed something very basic about his character, and anyone who didn't know that about him beforehand just didn't know him very well, and THAT should have been the character reference: "he hides his violent streak well when not in a position to win."



  • Registered Users Posts: 27,161 ✭✭✭✭GreeBo


    Btw, I think this "she was doing what women do all the time when they contradict a man: taking her life in her hands."

    is a disgusting attitude to have.

    What percentage of men attack women? To paint all men in this light shows where you are coming from.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,459 ✭✭✭extra-ordinary_


    Is it in keeping with any soldier's character to viciously assault someone in work?

    Well they are trained in hand-to-hand combat so yes, they could be viciously assaulting someone in 'work'.

    His statement about the attack being out of character was a character reference, that Togher was disappointed was a personal statement while the remainder was a record of Crotty as a soldier.

    It was a character reference in so far as Togher could comment on the army's experience of Crotty's character, and if you were Togher, would you not be 'surprised' and 'disappointed' that this disciplined and valued soldier had attacked the very people he has sworn to protect? I'm still not getting your outrage.



  • Registered Users Posts: 241 ✭✭I told ya


    I'll take what Natasha said as the 'full truth'.

    According to Natasha, from the podcast, it was a man in a pub, about 50 metres away, who heard her screams and ran up and intervened. Not his friends.

    And clearly the friends did not give the Gardai any info, as Natasha had to track Crotty down. Alternatively, the friends did indeed tell the Guards who he was and…



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,968 ✭✭✭Red Silurian


    I think they were more worried about protests at the event and things turning nasty than being populist. Also they might have found it hard to staff the event



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,329 ✭✭✭volchitsa


    Missing the point again, even though I specifically said, several times, that most men don't do that.

    Most men don't, but women have no way of knowing which men will. So women live with that all the time.

    The other way of looking at it is: most men don't abuse women, but just about every woman has personal experience of some level of intimidation or abuse by a man. Ask the women in your life.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,618 ✭✭✭Tombo2001




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  • Registered Users Posts: 55,427 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    I am wondering how fearless and assured he’d be had it been a physically imposing man intervening instead of a woman.

    The two scenarios clearly not the same. Yes, he could give it a go against the man, but he absolutely had no fear when going to pulverise a defenceless woman. A physically imposing man a lot more difficult than the woman he chose to beat up. An absolute cowardly act



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,618 ✭✭✭Tombo2001


    I never said you said that….

    anyway, I'll shut up now because even when you agree with people they are giving out to you….



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,342 ✭✭✭MrMusician18


    That is absurd and absolute hyperbole. If you actually belive women are taking their life in their hands when they contradict a man then society wouldn't and couldn't function.

    Do you believe that all male-female relationships are based on coercion and intimidation?



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,329 ✭✭✭volchitsa


    double post again



  • Registered Users Posts: 27,161 ✭✭✭✭GreeBo


    So now your position isnt that he didnt do it before, merely that he was never caught before?

    Is there any other evidence that only you are privy to or are you just using your (un)conscious bias in all your reasoning today?

    "he hides his violent streak well when not in a position to win."

    And what evidence, prior to this incident would you base this on?



  • Registered Users Posts: 55,427 ✭✭✭✭walshb




  • Registered Users Posts: 7,329 ✭✭✭volchitsa


    Do you believe that all male-female relationships are based on coercion and intimidation?

    That's not what I said. In fact I pretty much said the opposite.



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,761 ✭✭✭✭Danzy


    Volchitsa, do you personally know Crotty, or are you trying to give that impression.



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,329 ✭✭✭volchitsa


    None. I'm saying that this act cannot possibly be said to be out of character, because nothing exceptional caused it. Therefore it was in character, and anyone saying it was out of character just didn't know his character.

    Whether it happened before or not, who knows. But we can't assume it's the first time either. All we can say is it's the first time he got caught. I didn't express any view on whether there were previous incidents or not.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 884 ✭✭✭erlichbachman


    Didnt actually read the article, there was more?



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