Kick your Dad to death: off you go!

[Lefournier]

Six years' suspended for manslaughter of father | BreakingNews.ie

Just another day in the Irish system of criminal "justice". An 18 year old kicks his father unconscious and leaves him to die in the garden. I can't understand why the jury didn't convict him of murder ("he didn't mean to kill his father" said defence counsel, like he didn't study "malice aforethought" in first year law)

The judge gives him six years suspended with a €100 bond so this young killer is on his way back to England, free as a bird.

His father's siblings are disgusted. They probably expected something like justice for their brother and now they wonder whether alcoholic fathers are fair game?
His first cousin is Cllr. John Kelly who was Mayor of Roscommon at the time of his "murder". Political connections can't bring justice for the victims, only for the guilty.

Thomas Cunningham (aged 19) was convicted by a jury earlier this year of the manslaughter of Thomas Brendan Cunningham Snr (aged 46) at their home in Santa Maria Commons, Ballinlough, Co Roscommon on August 23, 2007. He had pleaded not guilty to murdering him in their driveway, after his father came home in the early hours, drunk and without dinner for his elderly parents for whom he cared.

The jury heard that the deceased had been drinking on the day leading up to his death and came home drunk. The defendant was annoyed with his father who had been sent out earlier to buy food.He grabbed his father and punched him outside the house. The deceased fell to the ground where the accused said he punched him twice more and kicked him.The deceased was helped up but fell down again and was left in the garden overnight with a duvet and pillow. He was found dead the following morning.

Of course, this farce would not be complete if the second act (arrest and charge) had not brought its own drama: the evidence of the State Pathologist wasn't ready so the accused was released by the District Court, re-arrested that day and then re-released by the court. No surprise, he skips off to England.


At first, I was inclined to give him credit for coming back to face charges but then I realised there may be a more sordid explanation. I wonder if it is connected with the death of his grandfather just after he fled to England (yeah, the grandfather had to go into care because his son was dead and died there 4 months later ). The grandfather tried to help his son when he was lying unconscious but the thug of a grandson wouldn't help. Now that grandad was dead, this thug could claim that his only gave his dad a couple of kicks and that his head had smashed off the floor when they were trying to lift him up.



Teen leaves country as gardai seek his re-arrest - National News, Frontpage - Independent.ie

[Bobert]

******************************g *************************!

[Horace Horse]

When you put that with the trial in Sligo you throw up your hands at what has happened to the Irish family.

I blame the individuals concerned, but I also blame Fianna Fail for creating a society in which solidarity and community and tradition and responsibility and charity became empty words.

[LeftOfCentre]

OP were you in court for the full trial? or just part of it ???? Oh Or was it absolutely NONE of it?

A terrible crime no doubt, but the judge obviously saw reason to suspend the sentence.

I was not in court so can not comment ,,,,,, but (not referring to this case at all ) say It came out that his father had abused him when he was younger & he snapped .... would a non custodial sentence be acceptable? . . . .. many would say yes ,,,, meaning they believe mitigation should be considered ..... A learned & intelligent judge found mitigation in this case, , , , whats the big deal?

not everyone grows up in a rugby school and pillars of support as parents, , , every one's case is different. . .. . & if you weren't at the trial, you are quite litterally judging from a place of ignorance,

[Bobert]

OP were you in court for the full trial? or just part of it ???? Oh Or was it absolutely NONE of it?

A terrible crime no doubt, but the judge obviously saw reason to suspend the sentence.

I was not in court so can not comment ,,,,,, but (not referring to this case at all ) say It came out that his father had abused him when he was younger & he snapped .... would a non custodial sentence be acceptable? . . . .. many would say yes ,,,, meaning they believe mitigation should be considered ..... A learned & intelligent judge found mitigation in this case, , , , whats the big deal?

not everyone grows up in a rugby school and pillars of support as parents, , , every one's case is different. . .. . & if you weren't at the trial, you are quite litterally judging from a place of ignorance,

Will you shut up about this class struggle? I don't think we can compare Roscommon to Blackrock and even then I don't think we should excuse the poor from justice.

[TheJudge]

When you put that with the trial in Sligo you throw up your hands at what has happened to the Irish family.

I blame the individuals concerned, but I also blame Fianna Fail for creating a society in which solidarity and community and tradition and responsibility and charity became empty words.

I also blame Fianna Fail for the weather.

[Gruffalo]

OP were you in court for the full trial? or just part of it ???? Oh Or was it absolutely NONE of it?

A terrible crime no doubt, but the judge obviously saw reason to suspend the sentence.

I was not in court so can not comment ,,,,,, but (not referring to this case at all ) say It came out that his father had abused him when he was younger & he snapped .... would a non custodial sentence be acceptable? . . . .. many would say yes ,,,, meaning they believe mitigation should be considered ..... A learned & intelligent judge found mitigation in this case, , , , whats the big deal?

not everyone grows up in a rugby school and pillars of support as parents, , , every one's case is different. . .. . & if you weren't at the trial, you are quite litterally judging from a place of ignorance,

You're not on Jerry Springer now you twat.

[Lefournier]

OP were you in court for the full trial? or just part of it ???? Oh Or was it absolutely NONE of it?

A terrible crime no doubt, but the judge obviously saw reason to suspend the sentence.

I was not in court so can not comment ....

So no-one can comment on court cases unless they were in court? Should we close down this forum? I don't pretend to be able to pass judgement on this killer but I don't apologise for expressing my shock and disgust at a suspended sentence for manslaughter. And what about justice "being seen to be done". The victim's siblings were clearly disgusted so were they also left in the dark about some extraordinary mitigating circumstances?

Come to think of it, it really is hypocritical to object to my posting and then to suggest, without the slightest justification, that the victim may have been an abuser. I seriously doubt the killer would have omitted to mention it.

So why did the judge suspend the sentence? Indeed, why do we see such leniency for serious crimes every week? Here is a thought which might explain this behaviour but I admit it is pure speculation: what if the judges have lost all faith in the prison system. Not simply that they have lost confidence in the prospect of rehabilitation (when was there grounds for such confidence?). More seriously, the judges may have come to the conclusion that sending someone to prison is a guaranteed means of creating a career criiminal.

Many of the most egregiously lenient sentences are handed down to defendants who have not previously been in prison and particularly young people who had not previously crossed the law in a serious way. Judges may simply have decided that sending such people to prison would simply bring them into a vicious circle of crime and the "justice" system.

[conservative green]

OP were you in court for the full trial? or just part of it ???? Oh Or was it absolutely NONE of it?

A terrible crime no doubt, but the judge obviously saw reason to suspend the sentence.

I was not in court so can not comment ,,,,,, but (not referring to this case at all ) say It came out that his father had abused him when he was younger & he snapped .... would a non custodial sentence be acceptable? . . . .. many would say yes ,,,, meaning they believe mitigation should be considered ..... A learned & intelligent judge found mitigation in this case, , , , whats the big deal?

not everyone grows up in a rugby school and pillars of support as parents, , , every one's case is different. . .. . & if you weren't at the trial, you are quite litterally judging from a place of ignorance,

Gibberish.

[LeftOfCentre]

Look , , , your ''lock up any one that I don't understand '' attitudes are all well & good, and In fairness it is your type of attitude that means the state needs to have such safe guards to protect defendants against mob mentality.

When dealing with law ,,,, a court must

A) Start at a neutral position

B) Furnish It's self with all facts from both sides & come up with a verdict

C) Make decision about the punishment.....

Some of you might prefer a system akin to some sort of X-factor public vote system, whereby people select a punishment based on a headline or a short article, but thankfully we have evolved past this, and stage B) is the most crucial part to this process

As for the specifics of the case ... I simply dont know them,,,,, but you can be sure the most important person in the case does .... The Judge.

I've nothing against people commenting , , , ,

My issue is with you (plural) giving pecedence to

your Lazy Judgments made by reading a short article.

OVER

The judgments of a Judge who has sat through a long trial, knows ALL the facts & takes time to reflect on the guilty verdict before deciding on the fairest sentence.

Less Lazy thinking & judgment please folks. . the world is a complicate place.