*Cathal Crotty.
ARDNACRUSHA’s Cathal Crotty has been discharged from the Defence Forces and will be officially dismissed today (Thursday).
Twenty two year old Crotty walked free from court last month despite being found guilty of beating Nathasha O’Brien unconscious in a vicious street attack in May 2022.
Private Crotty had seven days to appeal against an army decision last month to dismiss him over the 2022 attack. This process has concluded and a senior officer has signed Crotty’s dismissal papers.
On Thursday, Crotty will be escorted off the premises at Sarsfield’s Barracks in Limerick after he returns his standard-issue equipment and uniform and completes his exit medical.
After beating Ms O’Brien on 29th May 2022, Crotty boasted about is on social media. He initially told Gardaí that it was O’Brien who instigated the attack on O’Connell Street in Limerick City but admitted his guilt after Gardaí showed CCTV footage of him attacking her.
Now-retired Judge Tom O’Donnell gave Crotty a fully suspended sentence allowing him to walk free from court. The Director of Public Prosecutions has since lodged an appeal against the leniency of Crotty’s sentence. Gardaí are also investigating a threatening letter sent to Crotty’s parents, warning them their son “will suffer for what he has done”.
At Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council, three separate motions were tabled on the subject by the county’s female representatives. Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF) called on the local authority to stand in solidarity with Natasha O’Brien, the Fianna Fáil quartet of Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF), Cllr Rita McInerney (FF), Cllr Rachel Hartigan (FF) and Cllr Antoinette Baker Bashua (FF) sought tougher sentences for non-fatal and gender-based assaults while Cllr Mary Howard (FG) asked that the DPP be asked to consider evaluating the sentencing issued.
Shannon’s McGettigan led the call for the Council to hold a workshop on the matter so that they challenge gender stereotypes and see the signs. “Once again we are speaking out survivors of gender based abuse, enough is enough we have said time and again, we need to change the culture of violence against women, how many of us have witnessed this without stepping up or reporting it, this needs to be addressed”.
She said, “The outcome of this case is hugely concerning. It has sent a message that you can beat a woman almost to death on the street, boast about it online, deny it, blame the victim and then walk free. Once again women around the country are left feeling that their lives don’t matter. Time and again we have had to hold protests, vigils and outcry against injustice in cases like this, we should not have to ask or advocate for this. The system is broken, and it is taking brave women like Natasha to bring their case to the public in order to be heard. This has to go further than just an outcry.”
Crotty’s dismissal from the Defence Forces was welcomed by Cllr Colleran Molloy, “I am delighted to hear that Crotty will be no longer paid by the taxpayer to protect us”. She said, “It is the men that need to call this out, the women know this because they are subjected to it, the men are simply not sensitive or do see it but don’t call it out”. The Quin native said she “experienced it as a councillor not directly to me but about me in my presence”.
With experience of working alongside Judge O’Donnell, the barrister described him as “a fine judge” who followed the guidelines, “if he was to give a custodial sentence it would have ended the career but so what” but argued that O’Donnell should have jailed the South-East Clare man.
Hearing about the case gave Cllr McInerney “shivers”. She stated, “It starts with the sexist jokes and the misogyny, I’m sorry but some of us let it go, a lot of it isn’t meant but we have to take a stand”. The Chair of the West Clare MD continued, “Natasha was calling out anti LGBT slurs happening on the street which is another story, this is one technically minority group calling out another but both are being violated in this regard by the sentence”.
Clare’s youngest elected representative, Cllr Hartigan admitted there was a sense of shock among her and classmates in university upon hearing the sentencing. “We’re not often afraid by the shadowy figures or the monster under the bed but we’re afraid of Cathal Crotty, a man that is supposed to protect us, we do not feel safe, Natasha did what we’re told to do, she didn’t walk home alone, she was with her friends and was in a well-lit street”. She believed the sentencing “tells a story that a young man can feel okay to attack a girl in a street. The justice system allows for more concern on the abusers future than the victims”.
Violence against women “is not a once off, one in four women in Ireland report domestic violence, one fifth and I’d argue it is more are worried of being attacked by a stranger,” commented Cllr Baker Bashua. “If a crime is committed, there should not be character witnesses to say it is out of character, that doesn’t make it any less violence,” the Ennis woman added.
“We are second class citizens in a first world country,” said Cllr Howard who referenced the murder of primary school teacher Ashling Murphy and confessed she rarely walks on her own since her death in January 2022.
Leadership must be provided by elected representatives to tackle a cultural issue, Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) maintained. He admitted, “It is very uncomfortable as a man to listen to the statistics and to hear how our women feel”. He said, “As a father of three boys, it is scary to think that the influences out in the world make this okay. It is our role to say this is not acceptable”.
O’Brien’s attack was “horrifying,” Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) said, “Natasha was defending people at the butt of homophobic slurs, it was an attack on women”. The six proposers of the motion were praised by Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) who remarked, “what went on was scandalous, outrageous and embarrassing”.
Judge O’Donnell “got this wrong,” Cllr Pat Daly (FF) maintained, “some of the judges need to go to a workshop. I’ve seen it on many occasions where judges are making terrible mistakes, it is time that people woke up to this”. Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) noted, “ She said she would rather be beaten again than go through the court system, that is an awful indictment on the court system”.
Female councillors were thanked for giving their lived experience by Cllr David Griffin (FF) who believed violence against women was at “epidemic” levels. “We frequently hear this notion of never again but in reality it is never again until the next time, it isn’t an issue for women to fix, it is an issue for society to fix and as much a male as a female issue,” he stated.
Shock was also voiced by Cllr Michael Begley (IND). “I was absolutely shocked to see what happened here and all the more shocking that the culprit lives within a short distance of where I live, I know some of his relations and it is altogether that this be carried out by a member of the national army who would be called on to protect us, if this is the type of character that would be called upon then we were at a very low level”.
Addressing the meeting, Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) said he was blessed to have two daughters and he tells them to “walk home the long way with the lights or not to walk home alone”, he committed to take on board “everything said to me to do better going forward as a man”. Cllr John Crowe (FG) commented, “This is completely outrageous, any man that raises his hand to a woman isn’t a man. We need to call a stop to this”.
Diffcult and upsetting were the words used by Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF), “She went through hell in that courtroom”. “I know Judge O’Donnell, this was definitely got wrong and the system needs to be looked at,” he added.
