Violence against women is one of the most serious and disturbing issues facing all parts of Ireland today, with brutal assaults and even murders running at an alarmingly high level over recent years.
An appalling total of 62 women, 37 in the south and 25 in the north, have been killed since 2020, meaning that, to the shame of the entire country, a death has been taking on place on average one a month over the entire period.
Hundreds more have suffered horrific injuries, so it was entirely appropriate that addressing the shocking figures were listed as a priority in the Stormont executive’s programme for government last September.
The incoming Irish government is equally committed to safeguarding women, and it is essential that the courts play their full part when offenders are brought to justice and convictions are obtained.
There was enormous alarm over the case of Cathal Crotty, at the time a serving Irish soldier, who beat a woman unconscious in a random attack on Limerick city’s main thoroughfare, O’Connell Street, in May, 2022.
Crotty, now aged 22, initially attempted to blame his victim for what happened, but, after being shown CCTV footage, eventually pleaded guilty to assault causing harm at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court last June.
He was astonishingly given a suspended sentence, and might have been able to remain at liberty had it not been for the bravery of the woman he battered, 25-year-old Natasha O’Brien.
She abandoned her right to anonymity and gave a number of compelling media interviews in which she set out her ordeal and explained why she believed she was going to be killed
Ms O’Brien was repeatedly punched when she asked Crotty to stop using homophobic slurs against another individual on the street, suffering a broken nose and concussion.
She told the court last year: “As I lay in the foetal position, losing consciousness, he continued his relentless beating - my last conscious thought was, ‘he’s not stopping, I’m going to die’.”
A judge initially gave Crotty credit for mitigating factors, including his clear record and his belated guilty plea, but politicians and campaign groups immediately expressed their outrage and the director of public prosecutions also intervened.
Crotty lost his army post and last week was sentenced by the Court of Appeal to serve a two-year sentence, with Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy saying he had carried out a “brutal, unprovoked assault on a defenceless woman”.
The public is entitled to expect that every thug like Crotty who targets vulnerable women will be robustly pursued by the authorities and go to jail for a substantial term, which many will feel should be much longer than two years.
