'People were turning up in their droves to support him and support his family'
Tim Foley, brother of convicted sex attacker danny Foley, and danny's fiancee were among those who spoke out on radio after the reaction to the case. here is some of what they said.
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The girlfriend of Danny Foley, the man sentenced to seven years in prison for the sexual assault of a 24-year-old woman in Listowel, Co Kerry, told Lunchtime with Eamon Keane on Newstalk 106-108fm that "he can hold his head high because people are here to support him and they believe in him and, in my mind, he has done nothing wrong and has nothing to hide. The Danny they know and love is not the monster that he's being portrayed as."
Michelle O'Sullivan continued: "I suppose I'm a bit numb and just shocked really. The worst-case scenario we had anticipated hadn't even come close to this. For the type of offence Danny was convicted of, the solicitor had anticipated a sentence of maybe three years.
"All I can really say about that is the evidence that was presented in the case has obviously swayed the jury. I personally don't believe there was enough evidence to come back with a conviction. I certainly don't believe there was evidence to hand down the type of sentence that was given.
"I have been in Danny's company under the influence of alcohol and Danny with or without drink is the same Danny and he does not have it in him to harm another person. I know that Danny Foley is not capable of the things he has been accused of.''
Eamon Keane: What has the reaction been for you in the town of Listowel?
Michelle O'Sullivan: "Tremendous support. People are turning up in their droves to support the family. Everyone is devastated. Nobody who knows him can believe this of him. Danny has been of impeccable good character. He's held in the highest of esteem. He has no previous convictions.
"He has never been in any trouble of any description and anybody who knows Danny knows that he is not capable of what he is accused of.
"The future right now is very unclear. Obviously we will be appealing the sentence that Danny has been given and, as regards living in Listowel, whenever Danny can come home he can hold his head high because people are here to support him and they believe in him and in my mind he has done nothing wrong and has nothing to hide.
"I'm sure many people have that opinion. Danny had told me about the possibility there may be a court case and about the allegations that had been made against him from very early on in the relationship when I first met him.
"I sort of feel he didn't have to do that at that time because at that stage he really didn't know whether this was going to result in a court case or not and clearly I'm biased in favour of Danny because I know him. but I made a solemn promise to myself on the first day of the trial that if one piece of evidence that was produced that could convince me that Danny was guilty of what he was accused of, that I would walk away, and that did not happen.''
'Lunchtime with Eamon Keane' on Newstalk 106-108 fm, every weekday from 12pm--2pm
Earlier that morning on the same station, presenter Claire Byrne spoke to the parish priest of Castlegregory, Fr Sean Sheehy, and asked him why he had queued up with more than 50 people to shake the hand of the convicted sex offender Danny Foley.
"Well I just wanted to support him for one thing and let him know he was not alone. I mean, it's a horrible situation to be in the dock as a prisoner, just sitting with his prison officers.
"From a purely pastoral standpoint, I would do that with anybody."
Claire: "What about the victim?"
Fr Sheehy: "I didn't know her, if I had known her I certainly would have shook her hand as well. I don't know how she felt."
Claire: "Do you care?"
Fr Sheehy: "I do, of course I care. But my Christian responsibility was to this person that I knew and to the person who is the object of, what I call, this extremely harsh sentence."
Later Claire Byrne asked Fr Sheehy if it was he who had organised the group to embrace Foley.
Fr Sheehy replied: "No, not at all, for goodness sake why would I organise that? I was actually sitting down when his mother came and asked if I would go up and just tell him hello. And I did. I have no idea who organised it but she was the one who invited me to come up."
Claire: "You have no regrets in supplying that character reference or shaking this convicted sex offender's hand yesterday?"
To which Fr Sheehy replied: "None whatsoever."
'Breakfast with Claire Byrne & Ivan Yates' on Newstalk 106-108fm, weekdays, 6.30am to 9am
TIM Foley, the brother of Danny Foley, also spoke out.
"I was in court all through the trial. Now, I'm biased because I'm his brother, but I didn't see any evidence or hear any evidence. I tried to distance myself from it to be impartial, but I didn't see any absolute evidence.
"That is the distressing point of it. If only we knew what grounds they had based their findings on -- but we will never know that. We never saw or heard anything that would change our minds.
"As stated in the court, he panicked on the night. He did change his story. He went to the garda station the following morning to change his story. He was under the influence of drink, which he did admit to and before any charges were made he did change his story.
"I don't want to go into too much detail about the case but there is CCTV footage showing the two people walking arm in arm, kissing and cuddling out the back of a nightclub which people did not seem to hear in the media and we have heard extraordinary stories of him dragging her out the back of a nightclub. Totally untrue, totally fabricated and just an absolute disgrace.
"My dad is a diabetic and my mother is recovering from breast cancer, so this has had a dramatic effect on them. It had a dramatic effect on his brother and his sister, his nephews and his cousins. That is who mainly made up the people who were there in the courtroom," he said.
"Fr Sheehy, or Seano as we call him, lives just 200 yards from our family home. Contrary again to what people are saying in the media, Fr Sheehy calls to my parents to see how they are doing.
"He's a neighbour. Danny calls to him. My parents call to him. He's not our parish priest. He is our friend. He knows Danny extremely well and they are good friends. He gave evidence as a character witness, not as a priest, but as a friend."
'Today With Pat Kenny', daily, 10am on RTE Radio 1
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