(Ireland) Shocking court scene as locals back sex attacker (follow-up thread)

The Kerryman ^ | 12/23/2009 | Marissa Reidy

[markomalley]

This is a follow-up to an article posted by our own Alex Murphy, Kerry priest who shook hand of sex offender leaves parish.

Either the Irish people are just horrid monsters or there is something a whole lot more that is going on here than is being reported.

[markomalley]

ping for follow-up to previous article.

[thefactor]

Two whole articles and nary a fact about the case in either one. Good reporting, Ireland. /s

How about some facts of the assault, or maybe an indication of what this guys sentence was.

I couldn't get to the link, so if there was any info there, I missed it. What did I miss?

[Lucky Dog]

Either the Irish people are just horrid monsters or there is something a whole lot more that is going on here than is being reported.

Oh, come on, now... You know that the press would never slant a story by failing to report all of the facts. Why, that like saying that fake but accurate isn't really accurate.
/s

[markomalley]

From the accuser’s POV, the accused slipped her a Mickey and then raped her.

From the accused’s POV, she consented to having sex and that, while she had a couple of drinks, she was not too drunk to give that consent.

This article was initially posted here in “religion” because somebody wanted to make a big stink that the local parish priest gave a character reference for the accused, believed a miscarriage of justice was done, and shook his hand after the accused was sentenced. In other words a cheap smear job.

The forensic evidence is not conclusive: there was no primary clinical evidence that she was raped (the bruises and abrasions around the genitalia that are consistent and unique to nonconsensual sex), but there is CCTV footage that they were together and there were marks on her to indicate that they had sex outside on the ground (i.e., she had scratches on her back and legs from the ground)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The story seems to be a ‘second day PM lead’ piece. I can’t figure out who the bad guy is or what exactly was done.

[GOP_Party_Animal]

No kidding! I kept thinking, okay, why would these people act this way; what’s the other side of the story? Lousy reporting.

[1rudeboy]

Either the Irish people are just horrid monsters or there is something a whole lot more that is going on here than is being reported.

Oh, boy . . . that's a tough one. Let me see . . . an entire ethnic group consists of horrid monsters, or we don't have the whole story. I can't decide. /s

[thefactor]

It was literally an article about handshaking and dirty looks. I guess this reporter was absent the day they taught journalism at journalism school.

[jerod]

Check out the movie ‘Straw Dogs’ for further insight in to rural English & Irish ways.

[fieldmarshaldj]

A lil over the top, ain’t it ?

[dangus]

This doesn’t seem to be support for a sex attacker, but rather support for someone they regard as falsely accused, despite the verdict. I wonder what makes them so certain. The original article describes his pastor giving up his post, rather than back down in his support.

[dangus]

I do wish I knew more about the case. I’m inclined to believe that people who think someone “couldn’t possibly do that” are often wrong; sociopaths are supposedly frequently very charming. Too bad the journalist gives us zero insight into the case.

[flowerplough]

Ask the (disarmed) Irish Republican Army if the Irish people are just horrid monsters or there is something a whole lot more that is going on here than is being reported? The Irish are at least as good as the Sicilians at always looking the other way and seeing nothing, ever.

“The IRA’s public apology this week to its ‘non-combatant’ victims brought back terrible memories for thousands of relatives here, in the North and in Britain. How do they feel about the ‘condolences’ for their ‘grief and pain’? KIM BIELENBERG reports

It took a long time coming. But almost a quarter of a century after Eamon Ryan, a civil servant, was gunned down by the IRA in a bank raid in Tramore, his family like hundreds of others across these islands finally received an apology this week.

There was no personal message of remorse, no letter or visit from a shadowy provisional godfather.

But the tone of the public statement from the republican leadership was seen as unprecedented: the families were offered “sincere apologies and condolences”; the “grief and pain” of relatives were finally acknowledged.”

Saturday July 20 2002 http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/thirty-years-on-sorry-is-no—longer-the-hardest-word-300281.html

[dangus]

How's this for over the top:

Now the town is divided on the issue. To me it’s very simple, take Danny Foley’s side and you agree with sexual assault and are therefore a potential rapist or take the other side which rightfully thin[k]s a rapist should be punished by the law.

Here's where I think there's a head which needs rolling:

[A]n escalating controversy over a sex assault case that... prompted the Kerry Rape Crisis Centre (KRCC) to query Circuit Court procedures that allowed 50 people to file past the shocked victim to express their sympathy with her attacker before he was even sentenced.

Since people were wondering about his verdict:

Danny Foley (35) — who is now three days into serving his seven-year prison sentence, with two years suspended...

Apparently, the burly Foley was caught on video camera carrying the "frail" woman to a waste pit behind the bar he worked at as a bouncer. This is Foley:

More info:

The jury during the three day trial had heard that both met in a local nightclub. The woman had a number of drinks and when he bought her a Black Russian shot, she felt sick and wanted to go home.

Mr Foley accompanied her and after initially walking a distance he carried her towards the rear of a car park, where gardai later found him leaning over her. She was half-naked and semi-conscious, and was removed to hospital in a very distressed state...

[The judge stated in his ruling] “No reasonable man could believe a girl or woman in a condition like this could reasonably consent to a sexual encounter of any kind... From the medical evidence it was clear that she suffered extensive bruising, and numerous scratches consistent with being dragged.”

...Foley initially said he had come across her as he relieved himself, but later told gardai [?] he had lied, and claimed they had been together consensually.

He also referred to her as a "wan" ("slut") during the trial. When you read that he confessed to lying, keep in mind that they produced videotape of him carrying her out there.

[dangus]

Also, for those who think the “journalism” is over the top:

I’m not sure about Ireland, but the European tradition of journalism often excludes the American pretenses of objective reporting. We draw a line between “columnist’s” opinion pieces and “journalist’s” news articles which is absent there. If people want another side of the story, they read another author. They don’t necessarily have authors faking objectivity. In this case, however, the reporter’s scant coverage did herself a disservice, since she failed to make her case why such behavior was so outrageous. Perhaps she was confident that her readers were quite well aware.

[fieldmarshaldj]

That pic makes him look like Private Pyle in "Full Metal Jacket" just before he killed R. Lee Ermey.

[B-Chan]

Gardai, plural of Garda = Irish national police

[markomalley]

I can understand the lying in the case: the guy is engaged. Doesn't justify the lying, but it is entirely understandable that he wouldn't want his fiancee knowing about his straying on her. Once you start with a lie, you keep lying.

I could understand, had the situation been an "under the influence" rape: he gets drunk and loses his inhibitions, she gets far drunker than she should be, and they go to it (she, during the act, changes her mind -- thus making it a rape...or afterward has remorse -- and tries to justify herself by claiming rape...or is too inebriated to legally give her consent, which, in some jurisdictions, is inherently rape -- I don't know about Ireland).

Here's the thing that gets me about this incident: her side of the story is that (in essence) he slipped her a Mickey. (She claimed that he insisted on buying her a shot and once she took a sip from the Black Russian he bought she began to feel unwell. She told him her mouth was on fire and she wanted a 'WKD' drink which he bought, but she did not finish it.)

Now, as far as I have read, a person who does did not take advantage of the circumstances, he would have premeditated the circumstances. I would have a hard time imagining a person doing that just once. Or doing that on a last minute spree. A person would have to premeditate such an act.

If a guy does that more than once, word will get around among the women, particularly in a small town. And in this circumstance, word would leak to the men as a result of this. In a small town, word is going to get around. I would think that such a word would be used in prosecuting a case and would inhibit such a fraternal send-off by townspeople.

So like I say, something just doesn't add up.

[onedoug]

GUILTY!

(By the standards here regarding women)