…”inhuman” behaviour…always has been always will be …in that knowledge be forewarned be forearmed…that said , the heart is heavy learning of victims of assault.

Justice has become another commodity to be traded. It’s now acceptable for a sex attacker to buy his way out of a sentence.

That comment has never been more true Daisy!

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1017/breaking52.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

@penelope That is a VERY disturbing article.

” Women should know its not safe to be out alone at that time of night.”

That’s ridiculous

Firstly; Women are LESS likely to be assaulted than men. So should ANYONE be out alone??

Secondly; Do you really expect half of the population to cower away in private because of a miniscule amount of sexual psychopaths out there?

It could be that she didn’t report it straight away or didn’t want it known to the public

….the misses ….has a hair spray in her hand bag….there is also an argument for guns…?

coz the gardai are useless when it comes to things like this even if the person that did it was found guarantee he would walk free

….second that!.son of friend living in London will not allow teenage sons to go out at night..

@maggie…second that…son of friend living in London…does not allow his young sons to go out at night.!

u can be just a venerable in a taxi on your own as walking the streets don’t matter where u are or who your with Shit happens its not the woman’s fault

that’s a wrong question. you should ask what such a bastard is doing on the streets when clearly he should be locked to rot in a cave.

self defence classes should be mandatory in secondary schools here i think as part of the curiculum.too many psychos running around out there attacking people.some of the women in my krav maga classes would not be an easy target for predators.

Actually, self defence is NOT a cure all. I did a basic self defence course, but a couple years ago, a man grabbed me at the Luas station at the Point. I was so scared that everything I had learned just went out of my head and all I could do was stand there frozen.

The only person to blame is the person who did it.

what kind of a stupid comment is that FFS? she should have been able to walk home without being sexually assaulted!! cop on!

Thats a terrible attitude to take to a poor woman who has suffered a lot already without people casting blame on her decisions and actions. Whats to say that a taxi driver could not be a rapist?there Why place the blame on the victim? the blame lies squarely with the twisted individual who carried out the attack.

@nick your right nick it isnt a cure all but it certainly helps.if your not keeping up a bit of training then it can very easily be forgotten.a lot of it is brain training.you would be surprised if you trained again how quickly things you learned before will come back to you.the best self defence is to avoid or try to minimize certain situations but we know thats not always possible.

Lisa you do realise that a huge number of rapes and sexual assualts, particularly in minors, come from someone known to the family/a family member? By your logic, she shouldn’t have been walked home at all, in case they decided to rape her.

Self-defence is useless when someone has the element of surprise and outweighs you by four or five stone.It’s not the victim’s fault because everyone is vulnerable at virtually all times. If some deviant wants to attack strangers there’s not much anyone can do.

But it’d be great if we could invest in cameras (in public only!) to catch them and prisons to keep them in

@chuck cameras & prisons are no good to the victim who could potentially be killed in an attack.the fact is if your trained in self defence you have a better chance of survival than someone who isnt.

Graham, self-defence isn’t going to make small, light women into ninjas. These kind of crimes can never be stopped, but a well-resourced justice system can prevent at least some of them, since instances of recidivism are quite high. Have a think about what I’m referring to, since I can’t say it out loud

chuck plenty of small & light women can defend themselves if trained properly.i have seen it myself.a swift kick to the groin will drop any man no matter how big.thats enough time for her to run away.

Graham, you’re absolutely ignoring the psychology of the situation. Unless you’re devoting hours a day to it, it’s fully possible that you’ll freeze (a natural human reaction). And as many posters have said, how much should fear have to police your life?

thats exactly it nick.people freeze when something like that happens.thats what you learn in self defence.you learn the psychology of attacks so you are more mentally & physically prepared for such things.i agree that noone should have live their life in fear.but this is the real world & there are bad people out there.

i had to walk home from nitelink because i couldnt get a taxi despiteringing every taxi company i knew, took me an hour and 40 mins because i had to alternate between heels and barefoot and involved me walking down dual carraigeway, was terrified but it was either that or sleep in a ditch. was i asking to be raped? thank god i wasnt

for all we know she had no money for a taxi, couldnt get a taxi or even just lived around the corner (look at the girl in australia), ideally she shouldnt have been walking on her own but it doesnt matter nobody deserves to get raped and nobody asks for ot.

She’s actually statistically far more likely to be raped at home with her partner. Should I never sleep in my own bed just in case I get raped? At some point, you have to live your life and not give into the fear.

Maybe she works late in a pub on Saturday night. Maybe her purse was stolen. At some point you have to live your life and no woman should have to be sexually assaulted and then have to deal with strangers on the internet focusing on what she did rather than the fact that rape is an random action without sense or explanation.

Expect a lot more Lisa. I’m sure you wish this woman no harm and aren’t suggesting she deserved it. But our rhetoric around asking ‘why was the victim …’ Needs to change. It’s unintentional, I’m sure, in most cases but it suggests blame on the victim and comes across as unhelpful because it sounds like a bit of ‘it would never happen to me cos I know better’. When the fact is, it could happen to anyone and a perpetrator is out to get someone, any way they can. And that’s what people are red thumbing.

90 thumbs down because it was an ill advised comment to make. Lisa from the journal wrote a fantastic piece on the recent trend of ‘victim blaming’ which I suggest you read to get some perspective.

” a lone woman is more likely to be attacked than a big burly lad.”

Not true. Ever seen a list of all the men kicked to death on Irish streets in the last few years?

Everyone is careful to one degree or another, but how far would you have us go? Do you want the streets deserted after dark? The way to prevent these crimes is to invest in policing and public transport and maybe to keep criminals in jail until their bloody sentences are served, instead of releasing them early. We have to except that we’ll never eradicate violent crime, but it’s the criminals’ fault – not the victims’

Sh*t! I meant ‘accept’!

Lisa, rather then automatically going on the defensive perhaps you should reread your comment and try to see why people took it as “victim blaming”. Because that’s how I took it and it’s certainly how it reads. Your automatic reaction seems to have been “well what the hell was she doing out at that time on her own!” And THAT came across as blaming the victim.

I think that yes, the reality is its not safe. But the absolute wrong question to ask is ‘what was she doing walking by herself’. We as a society always ask that first, always wondering what she could have done differently to have avoided being assaulted, as if it was her fault. that attitude is victim blaming whether we want to admit it or not. If you don’t agree then please imagine asking her that to her face without feeling like a dick. what we should be doing is saying ‘why is this the reality?’. Why should we be content to live in a society where its not safe to be by yourself at night? It’s not her fault she was raped, and that needs to stop being the attitude, not just in this country but globally.

Maybe the men of Ireland need wise up and stop viewing women as objects to be violated.

I love how you make no mention of the assailant at all. Not to mention that statistics show women are most likely to be sexually assaulted within their home.

The only person to blame for a rape or an attack is the assailant.

your a fecking tool! so what it’s there own fault for being sexually assaulted?

Yes, surely the answer is to put a mandatory curfew on all women. In bed by 10pm and not a second later now girls! Of course, since the statistics say you are just as likely to be raped in your own home, make sure you are in the spare room with the door locked. Oh and since most sexual assaults are carried out by someone you know, try not to ever interact with any men ever. Silly women, always trying to live a normal life without being sexually assaulted!

“Maybe the men of Ireland need wise up and stop viewing women as objects to be violated.”

“The men of Ireland” don’t commit these crimes anymore than “the women of Ireland” murder their children. Responsibility for an individual’s actions lie with the individual and NOT some group that they happened to be born into

Chuck, I was replying to John Kissane’s comment ” It’s time for the women of Ireland to wise up and face reality.”

John’s reality seems to be that men have no self control when it comes to seeing a woman on her own and they may be overcome by the need to rape.

Pretty misogynistic comment, John

No, the real question is why is it impossible for some men to keep it in their pants? Walking alone any time of the day or night is NOT an invitation to be assaulted. And at that hour of the morning some people are going to and from work.

Can’t believe John Aldridge left a comment

it doesn’t say that the woman was on a night out in the article. she could have been on her way home from work or anything. it doesn’t matter why she was out that late walking down that road. its just as dark at 12 as it is at 4am, you can get attacked any time any place. what matters is that the gaurds can gather enough information to arrest the sicko who did this and the woman makes a full recovery.

John, I think the reason he was out was because he wanted to rape someone.

Hope this clears things up for you

That is a sick and disgusting comment. How are you imply that she was, in ANY way, at fault. Walking down an empty road in the early hours of the morning is not consent to sex.

Can’t believe that comment!! You assume this lady was out partying. Maybe John Aldridge she was out working shiftwork. Don’t be so quick to judge.

I hope the person is okay.

Beyond parody, Aldridge