Sir, - A young woman, convicted on a single count of handbag theft, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment. On appeal last week, her term of imprisonment was reduced to six years.
A cleric convicted on four sample counts of sexual abuse of young boys was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years' imprisonment. On appeal, his term of imprisonment was reduced to one-and-a-half years, the remaining six years to be spent in a monastery.
The two appeals were heard in the same court and by the same judge. You report several comments made by him in the course of his judgments. In one instance, handbag theft was a "cancer" in society that had to be stamped out, and he was signalling "loud and clear" that sentences would be exemplary from now on. In the other instance, sentencing was not an exact science, "there has to be punishment", but "no man must be given up as beyond redemption".
The judge's reasoning in the second case was humane, even liberal. But, considering the disparate nature and impact of the crimes, his judgment in the first case defies comprehension. - Yours, etc., Win And John O'Grady,
Wilson Road, Mount Merrion, Blackrock, Co Dublin.