Natasha O’Brien welcomes DPP’s decision to appeal attacker’s suspended sentence

NATASHA O’Brien, the victim of a brutal attack by Irish soldier Cathal Crotty, told the Limerick Post this evening that she was heartened by the news that the DPP intends to appeal against her attacker’s three-year suspended sentence, saying it was too lenient.

“Thank God the right thing is being done now,” Ms O’Brien said.

But the 24-year-old Limerick woman said many more victims of crime, especially violent crime, do not have the same opportunity.

“It’s a step forward, but I’m still at the bottom of a big mountain, so I’m going to keep trying,” Ms O’Brien said.

“The number of victims who come to me with horrific stories about convictions and their convicts (violent perpetrators) remaining free, with no hope of appeal, is terrifying.”

Ms O’Brien said she had been told that “the DPP can find it very difficult to appeal, sometimes they don’t have a basis for it, which is very sad”.

“I’m almost certain there are many more excessively lenient sentences that don’t get to that point.”

Ms O’Brien said she believed speaking out about the suspended sentence handed to Cathal Crotty – which he received after he beat her unconscious in O’Connell Street in Limerick city – had helped the appeal against the conviction.

“I know the DPP is impartial to the public and the government, but I have no doubt that there would be no appeal if it wasn’t for the nationwide outcry,” she told a reporter.

“It is the sentencing laws and guidelines that need to change to allow for more of these cases where judges, in my view, are not making fair sentences, to make the process less impossible and more accessible to others.”

Ms O’Brien said she had been told the appeal being heard by the three-judge Court of Appeal would not be heard before October/November.

She added that she had been invited to the appeal hearing and that the court would receive the transcript of the hearing at which Cathal Crotty’s sentence was announced.

The defiant Limerick woman said she had experienced a “crazy two weeks” since she publicly expressed her disgust at the sentence handed down to Crotty by Judge Tom O’Donnell at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.

Crotty boasted on social media after the unprovoked attack: “Two to take her down, two to kill her.”

“There were so many ups and downs,” Ms O’Brien said.

She said Labour was set to put a motion to the Dáil to introduce strict sentencing guidelines for assault cases, which she described as “fantastic and great to see the wheels of change slowly turning”.

Ms O’Brien said she was concerned about some of the reactions to her public expressions of disappointment both at Crotty’s sentence and the wider campaign to bring about changes to the way judges treat victims of crime.

“Last weekend I got an outrageous amount of negative feedback with people saying things like ‘would she just shut up’ – ‘two (punches) to put her down, how many to shut her up’, ‘she deserved it, she’s a mouthy person’.

“It’s really scary, it’s a social problem, and people are frustrated that I keep talking about it? I won’t let it go because we, as a society, are just at the beginning – we’re moving forward, but we’re not where we need to be yet,” Ms O’Brien argued.

“To each and every one of these commenters – their hatred is what motivates me to continue.

“The negative comments are now the driving force for me to continue. It’s not okay, it’s that simple, and people think I should sit down and be quiet, they worry.

“What is disturbing to me is that there is so little talk about the justice system, about the victims, about the violence, that people get really upset when I talk about holding people accountable for assaults.

“It’s a sensitive topic – why? It’s incredibly important and we need to keep talking about it,” she concluded.

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