RAY DEMPSEY,
Sir, - Surely we have reached the end of the line? Our system of justice needs overhauling, in the light of so many recent sentences that have enraged and baffled large members of the general public.
1. A serial sex offender, a religious brother, has his sentence almost cancelled, with an option to move abroad.
2. A lone pensioner is brutally killed during a robbery (in which the violence was totally unnecessary) and a manslaughter verdict, and subsequent sentence, generally perceived to be lenient, is handed down.
3. A young lady is violently attacked for remonstrating with parties for urinating on her premises, and the attackers receive a sentence generally perceived to be lenient.
4. The X case defendant, whose original sentence was largely reduced, re-offends, yet does not receive the maximum available sentence.
However, for this writer anyway, the straw that broke the camel's back was the recent rape case, in which the judge handed down a four-year sentence, suspended it, and then uttered the disgraceful and incomprehensible remark that "no actual injury was inflicted on the victim, other than the rape". He then wished the perpetrator "luck" before letting him go.
Clearly, not all of our judges see eye to eye with the vast majority of decent people in this land in the matter of equitable punishment for violent crime.
In the circumstances, I feel that a committee system be adopted in the matter of sentences, thereby avoiding some of the idiosyncrasies shown in previous cases.
Furthermore, should we consider removing any rights of remission of sentence in crimes of extreme violence, including rape? - Yours, etc.,
RAY DEMPSEY,
Willbrook Lawn,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.