Posh guy with previous conviction for violent behaviour celebrates getting a suspended sentence for breaking a Garda’s hand

43 comments

  2. If that’s the person in question and he or she managed to break a garda’s hand….they need to seriously up the physical requirements and keep up.

  3. Not linking to Sunday World, but:

    >Cunningham of Park Lawn, Mount Prospect Avenue, Clontarf has eight previous convictions, including convictions for violent behaviour in a garda station, obstruction of a peace officer, theft, possession of drugs and public order offences.

  7. Can we just get rid of all judges they don’t convict anyone anyway ..bar its a mandatory life sentence fir murder it seems you can rape kids and women shoot at guards have a 100 previous convictions and bingo its a suspended sentence…unless you haven’t a TV license of course then you get a few days in jail.

  8. We need an AMA with a barrister on this to see what the hell is wrong with the courts. I don’t know if there is genuinely fundamentally something broken with the judiciary or if the media are leaving out a lot of critical detail for click bait

  10. But according to this sub only people from places like Ballymun get suspended sentences for violent crimes?

  11. Genuinely why would you give this person a suspended sentence?

    Clearly the other 7 convictions did not teach them how to behave. Even 30 days in jail would have an impact on someone this young and perhaps force them to reconsider their actions and behaviour while out in public.

  13. The problem isn’t the judge it’s the prison system, there no space in prison anymore. They can’t bring people to prison if there no space and then anytime your mention justice funding people complain that judges will just get the money or some bollox.

  14. So many uneducated opinions being aired, it actually makes me thankful that, as a western democracy, we have an independent criminal justice system in place rather than have the public administer justice.

    As someone who worked for many years in criminal law, let me try and educate;

    1. The courts recognise (thankfully) that if you hand out custodial sentences to everyone who comes before it you would have the streets full of ex convicts who have no means of supporting themselves apart from commiting crime. After a custodial sentence people re offend at a very high percentage and usually escalate to committing much more serious offences. A vast majority also pick up serious drug dependencies. People think that locking more people up makes them safer, when in fact all evidence shows it makes them much more unsafe. The courts will therefore use a custodial sentence as a last resort. You lock up a guy for a public order offence and you end up with a drug addict robbing members of the public for the next 20 years when they are released.

    2. From my experience, people with the attitude of lock them all up usually changed their tune fairly quickly when they appeared before a court for some unfortunate circumstance (usually alcohol related). They would quite openly admit they previously held those views or would say that “but I’m not like the usual scumbags that come here” and expect to be treated differently. Typical Irish behaviour. They always saw no issue when a judge would take into account that they held down a job for 20 years and led an otherwise productive life and gave them an opportunity not to have their lives changes by a prison sentence – losing employment, house, partner, custody of kids.

    3. The court, rightfully, will take onto consideration the age of an offender and their liklihood of turning their lives around. Ireland has some of the strictest disclosure of conviction requirements in the world. If you commit and offence in your early 20s it has a very real chance of barring you from any chance of gainful employment. See point 1.

    I wouldn’t expect anyone here to walk into an operating theatre and start telling a heart surgeon they were useless and didn’t know what they were doing. Everyone seems to think they are experts on the law though even though they haven’t the faintest idea on how decisions regarding sentencing are made. Melanie Greally was an excellent barrister and is a very good judge. She was a prosecutor for years before she was a judge and is one of the brightest female minds in the country – operating in one of the most historically male dominated professions in the country. Believe me, if she wasn’t good she wouldn’t be where she is. Hilarious that people come on here saying she should resign as they sit at home without a shred of legal acumen.

  16. “Ms Brosnan said a friend of her client died by suicide in 2018 and this had a huge affect on him. She said her client carried out a number of public order offences in the aftermath.”

    Imagine using your friends suicide as an excuse for your criminal behaviour.

    This guy is at the bottom of the barrel.

  18. The legal system is a scam to extract money from society for itself. Its not about justice.

    When you think of it in these terms, suddenly it all makes perfect sense.

  24. Why do we as a country keep letting people away with this? Violent attackers, rapists, paedophiles constantly getting suspended sentances? Surely something wrong there?

  28. I went to school with this guy. Can confirm he was a TOTAL FUCKING CUNT. Everyone hated him just a mean spirited asshole. One time he just grabbed my hair in his hand and started laughing in my face. Wish he was in prison, fucker wouldnt last one day.

  32. I moved to America in 2018 for a research position at UMASS. I’ve forgotten that this type of stuff happens so little back home that it gets independent news articles. Here it happens everyday.

  40. I didn’t read the article and now I’m confused and angry at everything. Read the article, it’s not as bad as it seems. The chap has made positive changes to turn things around. Sending him to jail would likey make things way worse for him and almost guarante he would offend again and be unemployable.

  42. Jesus the sub is a cesspool sometimes. This kid’s friend committed suicide, kid develops drug problem as result. Commits string of offenses over a short 9 month period. He has not committed an offence since getting counselling for his drug use. Can ye fucking stop screaming “lock em up ta fuck” for a second and think about this. This kid isn’t some evil criminal, he’s just a lad who’s hit rock bottom after a traumatic event, and locking him up for years wouldn’t do anything productive to fix it

  43. I agree that he shouldn’t have been sent to prison but the problem is if someone in the exact same circumstances who was from a lower socio-economic group would have been. I like the model they have in other countries where they have fine systems which are means based.

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