Sir, - I would be obliged if you will allow me a little space in your newspaper to express my family's grave disappointment at the sentence that was handed down to John McDonagh, for the brutal rape of my daughter, in the Central Criminal Court last week.
As you probably know, McDonagh was convicted and sentenced on June 17th for her murder, a crime which carries a mandatory life sentence.
It is very painful for us to learn that this evil person will not serve an extra day for his second horrendous crime. It is such a ridiculous situation, where a person can commit several crimes and be convicted on all of them and yet serve only one sentence. Surely that sends out the wrong message to every evil monster out there.
In my opinion these concurrent sentences should be questioned. The law says that when somebody is sentenced to life imprisonment, you cannot add to that. Indeed that would make sense, if a life sentence meant natural life, but unfortunately it does not.
Ten or 12 years is not much of a sentence for a man in his twenties. Judges should come down very severely on these criminals; otherwise, more of our children are going to end up like my daughter did.
Furthermore, I think that politicians have a lot of responsibility in this area. They should do a lot more to rid our society of this evil.
In conclusion, McDonagh sentenced my daughter to eternity. He sentenced me and my family for as long as we live, while he is sentenced for only a few years.
I don't call that justice. - Is mise,
Andy Hynes, Scousa, Leitir Moir, Co na Gaillimhe.