Courts must be a ‘place of humanity’ – Natasha O’Brien calls for protest in Limerick

Since then, protests have been organised in Cork, Limerick and Dublin in support of Ms O’Brien, who took her victims’ rights campaign to Limerick Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday.

Judge O’Donnell retired on Tuesday after 47 years as a solicitor and judge. Ms O’Brien stated that “I am not criticizing the judgment itself, I am criticizing the way it was delivered, the reasons for it, and also the insensitivity with which he (the judge) treated me.”

Before sentencing Crotty to a suspended sentence, Judge O’Donnell told Ms O’Brien that Crotty’s guilty plea was significant. This means, according to the judge, that there will be no trial and Mrs. O’Brien will not have to endure the additional trauma of waiting longer for the case to be heard in court.

Judge O’Donnell twice asked Ms O’Brien whether she realized the “significance” of Crotty’s earlier guilty plea. He also told her he had “no doubt” that Crotty would lose his job in the Defense Force if he imposed an immediate prison sentence. Crotty has no previous convictions.

The judge said he had to balance that with aggravating factors, which included: that Crotty was likely to be under the influence of alcohol; the level of violence used; that Crotty later bragged to friends on social media that “two to put her down, two to put her down”; that Crotty tried to blame Ms O’Brien for the assault, but only pleaded guilty when police officers presented him with CCTV footage of him attacking her without provocation.

Before speaking to about 100 protesters outside Limerick District Criminal Court on Wednesday, Ms O’Brien said she wanted judges to receive “sensitivity training” in dealing with crime victims.

“These judges are to blame for their absolute lack of empathy and insensitivity. They are dealing with victims in the 21st century, they have to keep 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 the way victims are treated in the courts. She said the court experience left her “completely alone” and “didn’t want to live”.

She did not have legal representation, but said Crotty had legal counsel, a senior attorney and a junior attorney. “I felt rejected, I felt brutally attacked, and not at the hands of my attacker, but at the hands of the justice system.”

But she added: “I took a stand.”

Urging people to continue to support the campaign for the rights of her victims, she said: “Without your continued support this will just fade away and become another (statistic), another news headline and I’m fed up with (the headline), I want it to stop was the last.”

She said Judge O’Donnell was not (specifically) at fault. “It’s the whole system.”

“We need more diversity among our judges, we need more humanity among our judges, we need these courts to be a place of humanity.” She said the change won’t come easily, but it will put “pressure on legislators to provide more support for victims of crime.”

Ms O’Brien said her campaign was not solely focused on the rights of female victims: “It’s also men who see their abusers walking free – this goes for everyone – it’s absolutely disgusting.”

“We have all been let down by so many people in power but now that is changing, this has to be the end. Not any more. We do not tolerate this and I hope every referee in Ireland sees and hears me.”