Sir, – Am I alone in despairing at Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan’s comments in justifying the length of sentence he delivered in the case of Kevin Owen McDonnell (39), Bangor Erris, Ballina who was convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault, oral rape and one count of anal rape committed on two girls then aged eight and nine in 1999 and 2000?
In particular the comment relating to the convicted man’s “good work record” was grossly inappropriate considering it was in the pub where McDonnell worked that he first approached his victims.
What signal does this type of qualified punishment send to those whose innocence and childhood has been taken from them in the most despicable of ways? It would seem to me that the church is not the only institution of this state that needs to reflect on the adequacy of its treatment of the perpetrators of child sexual abuse. – Yours, etc,