Courts must ‘be a place of humanity’, Natasha O’Brien tells Limerick protest
Justice campaigner Natasha O’Brien has called on lawmakers and judges around the country “to do better” in respect of sentencing laws for serious crimes.
The assault victim said she was traumatised by the manner in which Limerick Circuit Court judge Tom O’Donnell last week imposed a fully suspended three-year sentence on solider Cathal Crotty after he beat Ms O’Brien unconscious in an unprovoked assault in Limerick City.
Protests in Cork, Limerick and Dublin have since been organised in support of Ms O’Brien and she brought her campaign for victims’ rights to the steps of Limerick Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Judge O’Donnell retired after 47 years as a solicitor and judge. Ms O’Brien said she was “not criticising the actual sentence given, I am criticising the way it was given, and the reasons for giving it, and the insensitivity in which he (the judge) handled me”.
Before sentencing Crotty to a suspended term, Judge O’Donnell told Ms O’Brien it was significant Crotty had pleaded guilty. This, the judge said, meant there would be no trial, and Ms O’Brien would not have to endure the additional trauma of waiting longer for the case to come to court.
Judge O’Donnell asked Ms O’Brien on two occasions if she realised the “significance” of Crotty’s early guilty plea. He also told her he had “no doubt” that Crotty would lose his job in the Defence Forces if he imposed an immediate prison term. Crotty had no prior convictions.
The judge said he had to balance this against aggravating factors which included: that Crotty was probably intoxicated; the level of violence he used; that Crotty boasted on social media afterwards to friends “two to put her down, two to put her out”; that Crotty tried to blame Ms O’Brien for the assault but only admitted his guilt when gardaí presented him with CCTV footage of him assaulting her without provocation.
Before addressing a crowd of about 100 protestors outside Limerick Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday, Ms O’Brien said she would like to see judges receive “sensitivity training” when dealing with victims of crime.
“These judges are at fault for their absolute lack of empathy and insensitivity. They are dealing with victims in the 21st century, they need to (step up) with the times,” she said.
Later, Ms O’Brien told those gathered outside the courthouse that, she wanted her case to be a catalyst for change in how victims are treated in courts. She said her experience of the court had left her feeling “utterly alone” and she “didn’t want to be alive”.
She was without legal representation, while she said Crotty had a solicitor, a senior barrister and a junior barrister. “I felt discarded of, I felt violently attacked, and not at the hands of my attacker — but at the hands of the justice system.”
However, she added: “I took a stand.”
Appealing for people to continue to support her victims’ rights campaign, she said: “Without your continuing support this just fades away and becomes another [statistic], another news headline, and I am sick of [headline], I want this to be the last one.”
She said Judge O’Donnell was not (specifically) at fault. “It is the entire system.”
“We need more diversity in our judges, we need more humanity in our judges, we need these courts to be a place of humanity.” She said change would not come easy but she would put “pressure on lawmakers to give crime victims more support”.
Ms O’Brien said her campaign was not solely focused on rights for female victims: “It is men that watch their attackers walk free too — it is everyone — it is absolutely disgusting.”
“We have all been let down by so many people in power, but this changes now, this must be the end of it. No more. We are not tolerating it, and I hope that every judge in Ireland sees me and hears me.”
