I see no problem with this. The conviction will have a profound impact on his life, far more so than a person from a criminal background who was convicted of the same offence and had to serve 6 months.
The guy will lose his job and social standing. It will change the rest of his life.
The proverbial scumbag on welfare convicted of the same crime will do his 6 months (which probably means 2 months inside) protected by his friends and emerge out the other side to continue his life where he left off with no adverse impact on income or social standing.
I see where you are coming from Purple, however lets take this example;
A man on the street is charged and convicted of exactly the same offence,and lets say he gets the same sentence..do you honestly believe that he could/should/would get away with doing NO time?
Bearing in mind that the conviction will also have a profound impact on his life,more so than a person from a criminal background...He could also lose his job,and social standing..
Surely it would be just as difficult for him to serve time.
I understand that if the other inmates know that a prisoner was a member of the Gardai that the effect would be greater,but surely he knew this himself and still went ahead and did the crime.
The biggest problem I have with this is the precedent that it sets,the example it sets and the power it gives,to do a crime that anyone else would do time for.
What is the logical conclusion to draw here? Where is the line drawn?
what crime is worthy of a Guard doing time?
It would appear that for an offence as serious as this one,that no time is required..so lets say anything below that is also exempt,but how much further do we go?
I dont agree that he should do no time,as far as Im aware there are "open" type prisons so perhaps this would have sufficed, justice should be done and more importantly be SEEN to be done..scary really that anyone and I mean anyone could possibly walk free after such an horrific attack on another person..even if the victim did not want him to go to jail,that is beside the point..the message this is sending out is very wrong..