It's a strange story that emerged yesterday about Mary Shannon, a rape victim who has waived her right to anonymity after the man who broke into her house and raped her while her children slept in the next room was given a three year suspended sentence on conviction. Adam Keane, 20, said his life has been ruined by a naming and shaming worthy of a Brenda Power initiative. Diddums. How does he think Mary Shannon feels?
Devastated, apparently. Ms. Shannon even had to share a train home with her attacker after the trial; her sister says they had to walk past him to get to their seats. Ms. Shannon has said that she feels like a "criminal"; she had to stand up in court and be cross-examined on "every detail" of her life while Mr. Keane sat there without having to explain his actions. That he was found guilty made Ms. Shannon feel "so relieved... I really believed justice would be done". That he was found guilty and walked away is what I find very strange.
The presiding judge, Mr. Paul Carney (the same judge who handed down a 15-year-sentence to Joseph Cummins for raping an elderly woman), has, according to RTE.ie, said that "the sentence was based on a previous ruling by the Court of Criminal Appeal following an appeal in relation to a similar sentence in which the sentence was set aside entirely". Does anyone know which case? That's what I'd like to examine, because, kiddos, I'm flummoxed.
I hope to God al-holy-mighty that Adam Keane wasn't given such a lenient sentence on very humbly coming up with the notion that he was blameless because he'd taken "alcohol and Ecstasy" and had "blacked-out". I really, really fucking hope that's not why he got off with his three-year-suspended. Coz let me tell you something about alcohol: being hammered is no excuse. Have a tendency to get violent on the alcopops? Don't fucking drink. Claim you didn't know you had a tendency til the deed was done? Fuck the fuck off. You cannot blame alcohol for your being an utter cunt.
And let me tell you something about Ecstasy. It's known for being the great bonder; like cuddly Bostik, it is. And generally your sexual urges and your urge to hurt and maim go down in direct proportion to your skyrocketing urge to love the world. It's also a great willy-shrinker in ze males. People on Ecstasy don't want to/can't for the life of them fuck, in general. Which suits Adam Keane, because rapists don't want to fuck either. They want to hurt and humiliate.
Now, I'm writing this early in the morning and as yet, I haven't heard any more details on why Adam Keane was given such a lenient sentence. Perhaps it has nothing to do with his "Ah, sorry about that, I was hammered by illegal dhrugs, oh, waily, the pushers, they're everywhere!" excuse. But if it was, it's just another reason for the rest of us to put our collective spawgs down and demand that judges presiding over cases in which drugs are involved as an offence or an excuse fuck off and learn something about them first. This reminds me of the case a couple of years back where someone used as his defense an addiction to Ecstasy, the one drug that's entirely non-addictive (yes, if you're bringing up that ould psychological addiction chestnut, let's remind ourselves that sucking one's thumb is psychologically addictive too. You can't use it as an excuse for robbing your neighbours blind. Sure, Ecstasy costs money and thumb-sucking doesn't. Ecstasy costs about €2-€3 a pill, and you can only munch through about €20 quids worth in a day. More than that and you ain't taking MDMA, mate. You're nibbling on amphetamine, which is considerably more addictive, but you have no right to know what exactly you're putting in to yourself, because you're a filthy criminal).
Judges in this country need to take a very long and intensive course on drugs and their effects. This is so they'll stop squeezing dealers into handy little pusher stereotypes, and stop blaming inanimate objects (line a' coke, Guv?) for the nasty things we get up to as a matter of course.
Bit too late for Mary Shannon, though. She's been very eloquent throughout her ordeal. Let's hope she at least raises awareness for the plight of the rape victim, who has to suffer so much to see her/his attacker convicted.
By the way, on the same topic, I don't condone mandatory sentencing for anything: PD TD Mae Sexton is calling for mandatory sentencing for rape. Yes, I know that it "works" in murder cases, but you'll find that the Life sentence doesn't necessarily mean life behind bars... In every case, I would hope we take each set of circumstances and set sentencing accordingly. Kind of like in Adam Keane's case, and perhaps the judge knows more about his circumstances than the rest of the country... but necking a yoke in a club does not amount to much of an excuse, and it doesn't give you license to attack whoever you want. If only the courts knew that. Then pricks like Mr. Keane wouldn't waste our time coming up with convenient fairy stories, would they?
UPDATE: Readers coming in from the Lounge at techfocus.net, leave comments, will you? I can't call you up on dropping me in it in what seems to be an interforum spat between two members, but telling each other I'm wrong when I know I'm not is beginning to get my rabid goat, that it is. Oh, but don't just believe me. I'm only going on personal experience and the research of Nicholas Saunders, me.
Devastated, apparently. Ms. Shannon even had to share a train home with her attacker after the trial; her sister says they had to walk past him to get to their seats. Ms. Shannon has said that she feels like a "criminal"; she had to stand up in court and be cross-examined on "every detail" of her life while Mr. Keane sat there without having to explain his actions. That he was found guilty made Ms. Shannon feel "so relieved... I really believed justice would be done". That he was found guilty and walked away is what I find very strange.
The presiding judge, Mr. Paul Carney (the same judge who handed down a 15-year-sentence to Joseph Cummins for raping an elderly woman), has, according to RTE.ie, said that "the sentence was based on a previous ruling by the Court of Criminal Appeal following an appeal in relation to a similar sentence in which the sentence was set aside entirely". Does anyone know which case? That's what I'd like to examine, because, kiddos, I'm flummoxed.
I hope to God al-holy-mighty that Adam Keane wasn't given such a lenient sentence on very humbly coming up with the notion that he was blameless because he'd taken "alcohol and Ecstasy" and had "blacked-out". I really, really fucking hope that's not why he got off with his three-year-suspended. Coz let me tell you something about alcohol: being hammered is no excuse. Have a tendency to get violent on the alcopops? Don't fucking drink. Claim you didn't know you had a tendency til the deed was done? Fuck the fuck off. You cannot blame alcohol for your being an utter cunt.
And let me tell you something about Ecstasy. It's known for being the great bonder; like cuddly Bostik, it is. And generally your sexual urges and your urge to hurt and maim go down in direct proportion to your skyrocketing urge to love the world. It's also a great willy-shrinker in ze males. People on Ecstasy don't want to/can't for the life of them fuck, in general. Which suits Adam Keane, because rapists don't want to fuck either. They want to hurt and humiliate.
Now, I'm writing this early in the morning and as yet, I haven't heard any more details on why Adam Keane was given such a lenient sentence. Perhaps it has nothing to do with his "Ah, sorry about that, I was hammered by illegal dhrugs, oh, waily, the pushers, they're everywhere!" excuse. But if it was, it's just another reason for the rest of us to put our collective spawgs down and demand that judges presiding over cases in which drugs are involved as an offence or an excuse fuck off and learn something about them first. This reminds me of the case a couple of years back where someone used as his defense an addiction to Ecstasy, the one drug that's entirely non-addictive (yes, if you're bringing up that ould psychological addiction chestnut, let's remind ourselves that sucking one's thumb is psychologically addictive too. You can't use it as an excuse for robbing your neighbours blind. Sure, Ecstasy costs money and thumb-sucking doesn't. Ecstasy costs about €2-€3 a pill, and you can only munch through about €20 quids worth in a day. More than that and you ain't taking MDMA, mate. You're nibbling on amphetamine, which is considerably more addictive, but you have no right to know what exactly you're putting in to yourself, because you're a filthy criminal).
Judges in this country need to take a very long and intensive course on drugs and their effects. This is so they'll stop squeezing dealers into handy little pusher stereotypes, and stop blaming inanimate objects (line a' coke, Guv?) for the nasty things we get up to as a matter of course.
Bit too late for Mary Shannon, though. She's been very eloquent throughout her ordeal. Let's hope she at least raises awareness for the plight of the rape victim, who has to suffer so much to see her/his attacker convicted.
By the way, on the same topic, I don't condone mandatory sentencing for anything: PD TD Mae Sexton is calling for mandatory sentencing for rape. Yes, I know that it "works" in murder cases, but you'll find that the Life sentence doesn't necessarily mean life behind bars... In every case, I would hope we take each set of circumstances and set sentencing accordingly. Kind of like in Adam Keane's case, and perhaps the judge knows more about his circumstances than the rest of the country... but necking a yoke in a club does not amount to much of an excuse, and it doesn't give you license to attack whoever you want. If only the courts knew that. Then pricks like Mr. Keane wouldn't waste our time coming up with convenient fairy stories, would they?
UPDATE: Readers coming in from the Lounge at techfocus.net, leave comments, will you? I can't call you up on dropping me in it in what seems to be an interforum spat between two members, but telling each other I'm wrong when I know I'm not is beginning to get my rabid goat, that it is. Oh, but don't just believe me. I'm only going on personal experience and the research of Nicholas Saunders, me.
