Ireland Has Failed Women By Infantilizing Men

Awww poor Cathal Crotty! He made a lickel mistake! I’m sure he’s a good boy who didn’t mean to attack that woman! I’m sure he’s a good little boy who feels very very bad about beating another human being until they lose consciousness! Let’s give this little boy another chance by making sure he still has a military career! Yes, more man-children in the military! That’s what this country needs!

So just a brief outline of the case I’m talking about. A soldier by the name of Cathal Crotty was shouting homophobic abuse at passers by on the street. Then Natasha O’Brien asked him to stop doing this. Crotty responded by beating her until she was unconscious.

https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2024/0620/1455752-soldier-assault/

And this, right here, means Crotty should have been discharged from the army, immediately, and should have served a jail sentence. No matter what other circumstances there were to the case, jail and loss of military position should have been the bare minimum outcome. But believe it or not, Crotty’s conduct got even worse from there, if that’s even possible.

Later, Crotty posted on Snapchat, “Two to put her down, two to put her out” meaning, “two punches to knock her to the ground, two punches to knock her unconscious”

https://www.thejournal.ie/soldier-suspended-sentence-attack-6414853-Jun2024/

So there is no conceivable way, and I stress, even if that were the case it should still have resulted in a prison sentence and immediate discharge from the army, that Crotty was some guy who in a moment of madness made a horrible, horrible mistake. He posted about it on social media for God’s sake!

And this man’s conduct somehow gets even worse again from there, somehow.

Instead of taking any responsibility for what he had done whatsoever, Crotty claimed self defense! He claimed that Natasha O’ Brien punched him first! Only after CCTV footage showed that this is not what happened, did he admit that this is not what happened:

https://www.thejournal.ie/soldier-suspended-sentence-attack-6414853-Jun2024/

Also, Crotty fled when a male passerby intervened. Think about that. This is a man who was fully conscious of the fact that he was attacking someone who was physically weaker than him. If this weren’t the case, he wouldn’t have fled when he encountered another man, who is probably the same strength or stronger. This is a man who likes picking on people who do not have the physical strength to defend themselves.

So, what do we have so far? A man beats a woman to unconsciousness for daring to ask him to stop using homophobic abuse. He runs away as soon as he encounters someone who is about as physically strong as he is. He boasts about it on Snapchat. Then, he tries to claim that he was the one who was attacked and that he was just defending himself. Surely, anyone can see that this is a dangerous man, and that he needs to be given a prison sentence, and that it would be a very dangerous, and irresponsible idea indeed, to let him keep his position in the military. I mean, giving violent homophobes and misogynists that kind of power is just irresponsible, so I think I can rest assured that the outcome was…..

Oh

Cathal Crotty avoided jail time, on the basis that if he served jail time, his military career would be over.

https://www.thejournal.ie/soldier-suspended-sentence-attack-6414853-Jun2024/

Yes excellent, give him a jail sentence, so that his military career will be over! Yes, do that judge, that would be great! Wait judge, Tom O’ Donnell, we’re not on the same page here at all are we?

Oh now I understand, you think Crotty is just a lickel boy who is ever so sorry and now he deserves to have some jelly and ice cream!

In any sane legal system, Crotty losing his position in the army should have been the INTENDED AIM. The last thing we need is a society where people who deliberately target people who are physically weaker than them, and then of all things, brag about it later, are allowed to serve in the army. If you do what Crotty did, you should be kicked out of the army, no questions asked.

But we don’t have a sane legal system. We have a legal system that infantalizes men who commit horrible crimes. Awwww poor Cathal, well I’m sure it was Natasha’s fault for being a big meanie anyway, don’t worry about it Cathal, why don’t you have some jelly and ice cream and we’ll ignore all evidence that you’re a fucking scumbag, GOOD BOY!!!!

I feel somewhat uncomfortable that I’m spending so much time talking about Cathal Crotty, and not Natasha O’ Brien, his victim who deserves to have her voice heard. On the one hand, it is importance to emphasize what a scumbag Crotty is, and how the legal system failed by not putting him in prison and by not immediately kicking him out of the army, on the other, every moment spent talking about him is giving him attention he doesn’t deserve. So I thought the best way to end this blogpost was to show videos of Natasha O’ Brien’s own words, she deserves so much to have her voice heard after the absolutely obscene injustice she’s been put through: