Madam, – Last week a man with a gambling problem was jailed for five years for defrauding €200,000 from Cork school children for their debs.
On Wednesday, Judge Carroll Moran sentenced a woman to four years for beating her three-year-old so brutally that she died two days later. The child had evidence of 70 wounds.
Also, a 21-year old (with 75 previous convictions) was sentenced to four years for viciously kicking a dying and defenceless man in the head. The attacker was on bail at the time.
As somebody who has suffered and indeed always will suffer from the effects of lenient sentencing for convicted violent offenders, I call on Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern to address this issue as a matter of urgency. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Practically every day the media report cases before the courts of children who have suffered abuse.
The accused, having been found guilty, receive such lenient sentences that the message being sent out is that these crimes are really not that serious. Time and again I am astonished that these appalling crimes rarely merit anything beyond four years’ imprisonment. The age of the perpetrator is sometimes taken into account when really what should be judged is the untold damage that was done to the child and the consequences that he/she has to live with for the rest of his/her life.
This week a woman in Co Kerry was sentenced to four years for the assault of her defenceless little girl whom she had savagely beaten. A little child suffered and died. Surely her suffering and death merits more than four years? Guilty plea or not.
Until we, as a country, treat child abuse as the most serious of crimes and hand down custodial sentences that reflect this, then the message being sent out is that we as country have not learnt from our past and continue to put little value on the protection of our children and justice for our children. – Yours, etc,