Release of Garda exposes Corrupt Two - Tier 'Justice' System

national | crime and justice | opinion/analysis

Monday May 30, 2011 13:50

by éirígí Sligeach - éirígí

eirigisligeach at gmail dot com

Convicted garda walking free after leaving man he brutally assaulted for dead exposes corrupt two-tier nature of what passes for 'justice' in this state

Dean Foley

Last Thursday (May 26), Dean Foley was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, with 12 months suspended, for assault. Foley, a serving Garda at the time of the attack, was convicted for a brutal unprovoked attack on Stephen Murphy in Cork. Foley knocked Murphy unconscious and inflicted a series of horrific injuries on him. As a result, Murphy suffered bleeding to the brain, broken teeth and broken bones to his face.

However, the next day, despite the savage nature of the attack, the judge that sentenced him reconsidered that sentence and suspended all of it ensuring Foley's immediate release. In an extraordinary decision, the judge decided to keep Foley out of prison because as a Garda he would have a 'harder time' serving his sentence than an ordinary prisoner would.

If the situation had been reversed and Garda Foley had suffered this attack and injuries at the hands of a member of the public, the attacker would not be treated so leniently. The reality is that the perpetrator would be in a prison cell for the best part of a decade.

Coincidentally a young man who carried out an assault resulting in similar injuries was recently convicted at a court in County Clare and sentenced to 6 years in prison. So while this young man goes to jail for six years, Foley walks free despite the savage brutality of his crime solely because he was a member of the Gardai.

We have regularly seen Gardai act with impunity in breaking the law and in attacking peaceful protesters. For the past ten years at anti-Shell protests in Mayo Gardai have attacked peaceful protesters causing serious injuries and hospitalisation in many instances. (click here for article on policing in north Mayo)

Such brutality are not isolated incidents. Gardai have been involved in attacking protesters on many other occasions including the 'Reclaim the Streets' demo a number of years back, éirígí's Anglo Irish Bank protest in May of last year (click here) and the student anti-cuts protest in Dublin last November (click here).

We have seen the litany of other crimes committed by Gardai, including the planting of drugs as well as weapons and explosives, the manufacturing of false confessions and the deliberate framing of individuals as exposed by the Morris Tribunal in Donegal.

All of the above are just the tip of the iceberg, yet how many Gardai have gone to jail for any of these offences? None.

On the other hand, those engaged in peaceful protest have regularly been imprisoned.

Shell to Sea spokesperson Maura Harrington has been imprisoned on five separate occasions for her role in protesting against Shell's planned pipeline in north Mayo.

Fellow campaigner Pat 'the chief' O'Donnell served five months out of a seven month sentence in Castlerea prison last year for public order offences relating to a cavalcade in support of Ms Harrington who was on hunger-strike at the time.

Many people who are unable to pay their debts or fines are regularly jailed despite the hardship inflicted on them and their families. In the first 10 months of 2010, 3,200 people were jailed in the twenty six counties for non-payment of debt. No leniency or consideration is given by the courts and the so-called justice system as they despatch working class men and women to jail for extremely minor offences and inability to pay.

Yet here we have the extraordinary situation of a judge coming back into court the day after sending a brutal attacker to prison, to change his mind and let him go free solely because he was a Garda and might have a 'hard time' in prison.

Describing the decision as “shocking but not surprising” éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey said it exposed the “corrupt and two-tier nature” at the heart of the twenty six county state's so-called 'justice' system.

Casey said: “This is a shocking decision to allow this criminal escape justice solely on the basis of him being a Garda. It gives Gardai and others in positions of authority within this state a green light to to abuse their positions and commit horrific crimes safe in the knowledge that they will not serve time.”

“While shocking, this judgement is not surprising considering the corrupt and two—tier nature of what passes for a 'justice system' in this state. It is extremely rare for a Garda to ever have to answer for his/her crimes before the courts. It is even rarer that justice is done on the seldom occasion that they do.”

"The Gardai, the courts and the 'justice system' are not there to provide justice for working people. It is there for one reason and one reason only - to serve and protect the interests of this state's elites."

Pat O'Donnell after Garda Assault

Victim of Garda Assault at student anti-cuts demo

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Comments (8 of 8)

disgrace

by Jamie

Mon May 30, 2011 15:02

The WP pointed out how some guy got jail for spitting at a garda. Talk about hypocritical. The courts are a joke

Twitter and Tweet: Indymedia

by Concerned citizen - citizen journalism

Mon May 30, 2011 15:31

This crime of assault by a Garda and the decision of a member of the Judiciary to allow him to walk free due to so called mitigating circumstances relating to how safe he would be in prison.

Beatings in Garda stations are supposed to be something from the past i.e. decades ago. Now, it appears to be quite common place where a Garda whether on duty or off duty in certain circumstances (without or with alcohol) are not able to control their physical senses and engage in assault with vigour to another human being and often cause brain damage. Some in custody, like the man, earlier last week are dead. Brain injury, bleed to the brain, stroke, aneurysism, MS all have one major thing in common, they impact on the neurological side of the person and the consequences are long term impact, illness and inability to hold down a responsible or full time job. Invariably it means saying goodbye to the person you were and hello to the unknown. Then add to this the impact to your family members who have to cope with a different person basically. So a blow to the head means everybody ought to understand just what the implications are. There are no excuses. Gardai can have no defence let alone a Judge who says mitigation ... they will be subject to prejudice in prison.

Anger is an emotion which we all experience but if our Gardai do not leave Templemore with sufficient psychology to understand anger and its consequences, then the system is failing us and we need our Minister for Justice to address the issue at Grassroots i.e. in Training at Templemore. A good start is a film called Anger Management...it is art form and part of creativity that allows us to control anger. It times gone by people used Boxing to harnass a persons control over anger. The famous Lugs Brannigan in the 1950's and 1960's was a Garda who had his own view on how to deal with petty criminals.

Selective Justice, articles about prison reform, morality, ethics, Corrib, etc. etc: it interests me that these are never posted on Twitter. It seems to be that Ireland is eaten up with apathy presently so if this is the case some digging in archives might be necessary to show that even during the so called Celtic Tiger breaches of civil liberties took place: now is the time to wake up and address the situation so that we can move forward as a Country, one that faces Default, per the news today.

540 people jailed for not paying small fines

by Baffled

Mon May 30, 2011 15:34

540 people jailed for not paying small fines

Just over 540 people were jailed last year after failing to pay parking and TV and dog licence fines.

http://www.irishexaminer.ie/ireland/540-people-jailed-f....html

we cant move forward untill we change our blind acceptance

by old codger - pensioner

Tue May 31, 2011 16:23

We keep taking the corruption and will not address it publically
The irish State controlls complete power over these bodies.
JUDICIARY
GARDAI
MEDIA
OMBUDSMEN COMMITEES and many other state bodies where friends of Fianna Faill have been granted PERKS and the present government are content to maintain this controll.
We must make this clear to the public in whatever way we can or there will be no change.
IN IRELAND DEMOCRACY IS ONLY AN ILLUSION.

WTF

by CONCERNED CITIZEN

Thu Jun 02, 2011 12:17

what about this guy?????

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/city-garda....html

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/garda-up-on-charges-....html

Twitter & Tweet. Rouse people to reaction. Russia they have special prison

by Concerned Citizen - Citizen Journalism

Fri Jun 03, 2011 14:44

for the categories of people listed by Old Codger.

When do we wake up?

Appleby chairs a Table from Office of Corporate Enforcement. These people have been chosen to build up the stakes of evidence to secure the commitment of the DPP to press charges against former staff at Anglo Irish Bank. It is hit and miss. Nobody knows if enough information can be gathered to press charges in relation to Anglo Irish Bank. The DPP & the 50/50 equation is held in suspense.

Meanwhile Mr. Drumm former Chief Executive, Anglo Irish Bank, chose the American route for bankruptcy putting himself outside the net for criminal charges in Ireland. The American's have not yet granted the Bankruptcy - let us hope they are engaging in 'Let the Fool Run'. We need a break in Ireland. We need to know how the 111 bn euro that was in their account at the time of the guarantee that no doubt disappeared, who owned it and where did it go to? We can rest assured it left Ireland or is in the process of leaving Ireland.

The Maple 10 - that select group of Anglo-Irish heads. To me the whole Anglo situation spells out the Classic Insider Trading scenario. I cannot understand why the Footsie is not investigating same. There are very strict rules and regulations relating to insider dealing in banks.

Justice delayed is Justice denied or so they say. Each tribunal surely has taught the Irish people that this is the case. Abbeylara has raised questions that have yet to be dealt with; the Moriarity is about incongruity and non resolve; while the Mahon begs the question why have we no answers.....in fact these days the people are finding out the information by wikileaks!!!

The Quinn Family have been give significant time to appoint Paul Gallagher, former AG to fight their case. What injustice is this? The Quinn family action may proceed the criminal trial if the grounds for same can be established to satisfy initially the DPP.

Where is the Criminal Assets Bureau viz a viz corporate crime!

Law unto themselves

by James Anthony

Mon Nov 07, 2011 21:49

The Gardai make up the rules as they go along their merry way. Even when they are caught red handed and sentenced, the sentence is deemed cruel. He would have a hard time in prison ! who doesn't ? At least two of them got sent to Cork prison today. There should be a lot more of them getting sent down. Planting drugs, beating up protesters, who have a constitutional right to protest. They are a corporate gang of criminals, who actively subvert the constitution they swore to uphold. Just like the war criminal Bush, they believe the Constitution is just a piece of paper. Irish men and women shed blood for a Constitution of their own, and it means nothing to these corporate goons. They have been found out misreporting crime statistics, thefts, burguralies, etc...Liars, cheats, and worse. I would say that todays Gardai are even worse than the R.I.C of old Ireland.

Can we get talking about This?

by On the Radar - NA

Thu Nov 21, 2013 17:21

This is ridiculous. Can we re-ignite the topic? Can we figure out why a garda can enjoy a prison free sentence for a serious assault ?

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Release of Garda exposes Corrupt Two - Tier 'Justice' System

Comments (8 of 8)