Ravenwood - 11/15/05 06:30 AM
From Ireland, comes this tale of woe about Barry Duggan, who suffered from a coma and was hospitalized for 25 days after being savagely attacked.
Mr Duggan was knocked to the ground and kicked on the head repeatedly. As a result he suffered severe brain and head injuries; he sustained a fractured skull as well as a broken jaw and eye socket. For five months after he was discharged from hospital he continued to require the support of a speech therapist, an occupational therapist and a physiotherapist.Duggan's attackers plead guilty to the assault and were sentenced to three months.
Judge Donagh McDonagh actually imposed three-year sentences, but suspended two years and nine months on the basis that the pair had clean records and were unlikely to come to the attention of the gardai again. The judge added that he did not wish to "destroy young men's lives".Well, that's a relief. Too bad he wasn't presiding over the case of 61-year old Padraig Nally. Nally was sentenced to 6 years in prison after he shot and killed John Ward.
During the trial it was claimed that Mr Ward entered Mr Nally's isolated home through a back door uninvited when the farmer was in an outhouse. Mr Nally fired a shotgun at Ward when he emerged, hitting him in the hip. He then beat him with a piece of wood about 20 times. When Ward tried to flee the area Nally reloaded the gun and shot him in the back, killing him.Nally had no prior offenses and was not viewed as a danger to society. Granted he apparently followed Ward for a short distance as he was fleeing and shoot him in the back. But it's doubtful that Ward was just out for a midnight stroll like they're implying. After a LOT of searching, it was revealed that "Mr Ward had 12 previous convictions for burglary, possession of stolen goods and other offences, and had been facing charges of attacking garda officers with a slash hook at the time of his death."
Category: Defending Your Life
Comments (5) top link me
6 years sounds about right to me for chasing a fleeing burglar and shooting him in the back. But that's because I live in a sane society where I can be sure a burglar that gets away isn't going to come back after calling the cops and getting them to take my shotgun away. (I'm not sure if that would happen in Ireland - but it certainly describes the case in the UK where Tony Martin shot a burglar in the back.)
Also, one of my buddies is a retired Detroit cop who once stumbled upon clear evidence that an inner-city storekeeper had chased a burglar down the alley, shot him, and dragged his body back through the door. He sounds like he'd have been much happier if the blood and drag marks weren't so clear that they had to prosecute. 200 miles north of Detroit, we're sparsely populated but civilized. In Detroit, the law of the jungle might make more sense than civilized laws...
Posted by: markm at November 15, 2005 11:10 AMAs far as I'm concerned, anyone breaking in should be shot coming or going, and ruled as a suicide...
Posted by: Robert Garrard at November 15, 2005 5:55 PMYou break in to a man's castle, prepare to die.
Posted by: Derek at November 16, 2005 10:03 AMSo they get only three months frankly they should get life in prison or be hanged
Posted by: sandpiper at November 18, 2005 11:01 AMWhen you outlaw guns only putlaws will have guns and it looks like the emerald isle is riden with crime its so unfortunate i mean i,ll get the lepercuans will be robbed of their gold
Posted by: sandpiper at November 21, 2005 2:46 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
