Two stories caught my eye over the weekend that should be sending us, as a society, on to the rooftops to scream about injustice and the waste of public funds.
He was out on bail
The first one was about a man who came home to find intruders in his house. John O’Donoghue, 62 years of age, went to do some shopping with his sister and when he got home he realised that someone had broken into the house. He collapsed on the ground while his sister called out for help and he died of a suspected heart attack.
David Casey from Dublin and Michael Casey from Clonlong Halting Site in Limerick pleaded guilty to committing the burglary in 2015 and had also carried out other burglaries in the area. When his sister called for help the Caseys climbed out the window and ran through the fields with the stolen property while their victim lay dying on the ground.
David Casey was out on bail at the time of this crime. The Judge in this case will pass sentence in December.
97 year old woman was dragged from her bed
The second case concerns one Sean Gaffney, a 25 year old from Waterford, who smashed a double glazed window at the rear of the house of a 97 year old woman and broke in. He was with another man but he can’t remember who he was. They dragged the elderly woman out of bed and threw her on the living room floor which was littered with broken glass. They searched the house and made off with expensive jewellery. The terrified woman locked herself in the bathroom until the men left the house and then she raised the alarm.
DNA evidence and finger prints led the Gardaí to Gaffney who accepted that he was in the house but said he never touched the old lady. Gaffney has received a 230 hour community service sentence in lieu of a two year prison term and he got a twelve month suspended sentence for the criminal damage charge. The judge took into account a favourable probation report and the fact that Gaffney wasn’t directly involved in the assault and that he cooperated with the gardai.
Criminal Justice System is expensive
The Government is constantly harping on about cut backs and tightening the purse strings and about how there is no money in the kitty to be giving pay rises to the gardai, teachers and nurses. Well maybe they should look at how our Criminal Justice System is administered and make a few cuts there for a start.
It takes a lot of effort by the gardai to investigate crimes like these. Serious resources are used to gather forensic evidence, take statements, nominate and interview suspects, arrest and charge people and then to bring them to court. That’s not cheap. Then we have the cost of prosecuting at a trial and the cost of the defence for the defendant which, more often than not is paid for by us through the use of the free legal aid system. None of that is cheap. Then we have the judges who are charged with dispensing justice and they don’t come cheap either. So all in all it is an expensive process which takes place across the country every day of the week.
Time for change
What is the point in expending this amount of money, time and effort if it’s all going to be for nothing at the end? How longer can the gardai continue to put so much effort into chasing the same guys year after year only to see them back on the streets doing the same thing time and again? How much longer do we have to pay judges these silly salaries for coming up with decisions like this? The general public and the victims deserve better.