A despicable decision by an Irish Judge;Prison is too hard for convicted Garda

This article appeared on Saturday 28 May 2011

As you will read former Garda Dean Foley was convicted
after he administered a brutal beating to one Stephen Gerard
Murphy. Garda Foley was off-duty when he knocked Mr. Murphry
unconscious, and caused 'bleeding to the brain.'

Mr. Murphy also suffered 'broken teeth and broken bones to his
face, and "got an unmerciful beating".'

Garda Foley was convicted of the brutal assault and sentenced to
18 months in prison. So what does it mean when a Garda can almost
kill someone or leave them with permanent damage and only spend
one day in jail because he's so stressed out that the judge agrees
that 'prison time would be harder for a garda, as he would have to
be "isolated" from the general prison population.'

Tough sh*t. there is a principle that perhaps Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin
has never heard in all of his law training. That principle is that 'No
person is above the law.'

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin by this decision means that Garda are above the law,
and in the Judges eyes no brutality should force a Garda into jail...why GEEZ
it's just too hard on the fella.

Too bad. This is another in a long line of despicable decisions by the Irish
judiciary. Some members of the judiciary give light sentences to rapists,
and paedophile priests. This decision belongs next to it. The article is
below in full.

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/jail-too-hard-for-garda-judge-156095.html

http://bit.ly/iNAKNc

Jail too hard for garda: judge

By Liam Heylin and Jennifer Hough

Saturday, May 28, 2011

JAIL is harder for a garda than an ordinary prisoner, a judge accepted yesterday after allowing a member of the force to walk free after serving just one day of his sentence.

The release of Dean Foley, who was on Thursday given an 18-month sentence, with 12 months suspended, for seriously assaulting a man, has been branded shocking and outrageous by Sinn Féin’s justice spokesman, Jonathan O’Brien.

Foley, a garda from Blarney, Co Cork, had his sentence fully suspended yesterday after Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin accepted a defence argument that prison time would be harder for a garda, as he would have to be "isolated" from the general prison population.

Mr O’Brien, a TD for Cork North Central, said the decision was unjust and unfair and amounted to immunity for gardaí who break the law. He said the decision reflected the mindset of sectors of society that believe that those in a position of power have more rights than ordinary people.

Foley, whose resignation from the force was accepted last night, was initially jailed for assaulting Stephen Murphy in Cork city centre in September 2009. The court heard Mr Murphy was knocked unconscious, suffered bleeding to the brain, broken teeth and broken bones to his face, and "got an unmerciful beating".

Yesterday, however, Judge Ó Donnabháin suspended all of Foley’s sentence when it was re-entered at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

"We are in a completely different place today than we were yesterday," he said, after hearing from Donal O’Sullivan, defence barrister, on a point in mitigation that he had omitted from his submission on Thursday.

Mr O’Sullivan submitted yesterday "it is a much more difficult thing" for a garda or prison officer to serve a sentence.

"He will have to be isolated. He inevitably will spend a greater amount of time in his cell. He will have to be kept out of the general prison population. It will be a much more difficult sentence for him.

"Going by what I am told by prison officers, he will be taken to the Midlands Prison where there is a special section to hold him. He will have to be kept separate from other prisoners. Opportunity to mingle will not be there," Mr O’Sullivan told the court.

"I will affirm the 18 months, and suspend the balance of it as from today," the judge said.

Foley then walked free from court amid emotional family scenes.