Friday, November 18, 2005
Fighting the good fight
I've been getting quite alot of hits lately and yesterday saw United Irelander get the biggest number of hits so far this month. It seems that United Irelander has become the unofficial voice of support for the incarcerated 61-year-old Mayo farmer Padraig Nally:Padraig Nally
I'm not ashamed to once again reiterate my support for Mr Nally who I believe has been treated disgracefully by the Irish judicial system.
Mr Nally killed a man who broke into his home. A man who had a history of criminality unlike Mr Nally who had never been in trouble with the law in his whole life. Mr Nally had been the victim of burglary before and was isolated and vulnerable. In the case, the consultant psychologist Dr John P Bogue described Nally as "a sincere and forthright man who showed pronounced symptoms of anxiety and obsessionality" but because we live in a society where more consideration is shown to the perpetrators of crime rather than the victims, this didn't mean a damn thing.
What sentence did Mr Nally get? Six years in jail. Now let me highlight to you why the Irish judicial system is a disgrace.
RTE reports that a 21-year-old Dublin man who was involved in a series of car jackings and rammed a garda car has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Patrick Healy from Buttercup Park in Darndale pleaded guilty at Monaghan Circuit Criminal Court to a total of nine charges including false imprisonment, assault, robbery and the unlawful taking of a car.
Mr Healy and an accomplice had stolen a jeep in Dublin and had proceeded to rob a filling station in Monaghan. During their escape, they rammed a garda car.
As a result their jeep was damaged and they then forced another car off the road. Travelling at a speed of up to 185kph in a second stolen car, the defendant who was driving crashed, killing his friend and accomplice.
He later stole another car belonging to a nurse who had stopped to give assistance.
Now let me set out this story. This guy Patrick Healy steals a jeep, robs a filling station, rams a Garda car and forces another car off the road whilst escaping, kills his friend and accomplice in the process, and then later steals another car belonging to a nurse who had stopped to help him and what happens?
He gets five years in jail.
Padraig Nally gets six years in jail, Patrick Healy gets five years.
Is this an example of justice being done? Can we all sleep easy in our beds at night knowing that this is the law of the land?
I can't speak for any of you, but to me, this is a travesty.
All I'll say is this - Free Padraig Nally and make our streets a safer place again. Restore law and order to this country before it's too late.
I don't know what we have right now in this country but whatever it is, it isn't justice.
"First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me."
- Pastor Martin Niemoller
# posted by United Irelander @ 2:31 AM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
