Martina Devlin: Shame on jackasses who treated attacker as victim
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Saturday December 19 2009
I don't know why they didn't just spit in the injured woman's face, because that was the effect of their public exhibition
Five hundred years ago we had the 'Ship of Fools', a satirical book lashing weakness and vice. Today we have the Queue of Fools exposing the same defects -- unfortunately, not as parody but in a perverted show of support.
In Kerry this week, we witnessed 50 fatheads, who personify weakness and condone vice, stage a demonstration that was boorish, derisive and pitiless.
It's official: evolution has bypassed parts of our country.
But this episode cannot be shrugged off on the basis of an urban-rural divide, as evidence of tribalism, or proof that the rule of law is ignored in remote areas. It drives to the heart of the persistent ambivalence in Irish society towards the status of women.
A convicted sex attacker was consoled by 50 supporters -- mainly men, one a priest -- who lined up to shake his hand or hug him, sometimes tearfully. And they did it inside the courtroom, in front of his victim. Immediately afterwards, bouncer Danny Foley (34) was jailed for five years.
What happened in Listowel was no spontaneous outpouring. It was a co-ordinated and provocative spectacle. I don't know why they didn't move on to the injured woman and spit in her face, because that was the effect of their public exhibition. A show of support? A show of stupidity and spite, more like.
Those jackasses cannot have been oblivious to the impact of their behaviour, in which they overturned both ethics and logic to treat the attacker as victim. It was a calculated insult to the young woman involved.
That it happened in Kerry is irrelevant; barbarous behaviour can take place anywhere in this country. But there is no escaping the conclusion that such a community is not healthy.
It is a throwback community: one which respects neither women nor the law. One with a broken moral compass. One in urgent need of reform.
To excuse the 50 fatheads for simply rallying round a man they liked and for whom they felt sympathy, as has been suggested, lets them off the hook. He didn't behave like much of a man when he dragged a woman into a car park and forced himself on her. He didn't behave like much of a man when he lied about it afterwards, speaking disrespectfully of his victim and neither apologising nor expressing remorse.
Affection for the perpetrator should never blind people to the crime, part of which was providentially captured on CCTV or you have to wonder whether a conviction would have been secured.
As for his fiancee insisting he is "one of the gentlest souls" she has met -- she needs to get out more. He stands exposed as a liar and sex offender. There are none so blind as those who will not see, however.
It is unfortunate that a priest supplied the criminal with a starry reference, in which Foley was described as respectful towards women and without an abusive bone in his body. It goes beyond unfortunate to learn the priest was among the 50 who made a hero of her attacker, while the 22-year-old woman waited to see justice done.
And it beggars belief, following the conviction, that Father Sean Sheehy (the 'father' contains an inbuilt reproach here) should give interviews in which he referred to the offence as "alleged" and spoke of miscarriages of justice.
Since the Church has been having a spring clean this week, it might care to turn its attention to yet another candidate who shames his collar. His utter lack of judgment reveals Fr Sheehy to be unfit for active ministry. Bishop of Kerry William Murphy has wisely disassociated himself and the diocese from the priest's bizarre remarks, but words must be followed by actions.
I characterised this as a community in need of reform, but it would be preferable if correction came from within. I know there are decent people in Listowel, because I have met them. Now is their time to step forward. Remember, evil thrives when good men -- and women -- do nothing.
The area needs to distance itself from the behaviour of the 50 because everyone is tarnished by association. If people don't do this from basic humanity, which ought to be their primary impulse, then they should do it for reasons of survival: business will slacken in pubs, hotels, B&Bs, restaurants and cafes.
Tourism will be affected as widespread abhorrence manifests itself and visitors vote with their pockets.
The inhabitants of Listowel must make their support for this woman vocal and unequivocal. Inertia is not an option. She is reportedly facing local hostility in certain quarters, and Listowel clearly has some priorities to readjust here. They have to show they are as revolted by such orchestrated barbarity as the rest of us -- they should move to uncouple themselves from a farce in which the victim, rather than Foley, was the one bundled out of a side door.
In the aftermath, the wilful blindness on the part of his supporters, despite CCTV footage and a unanimous conviction by 12 jurors of his peers, continues to leave an unpleasant taste in the mouth regarding this case. A 'Danny Foley Is Innocent' page went up on Facebook, with contributions including "that girl is a slut and may she rot in hell 4 the lies she has told". That gem was keyed in by a woman, incidentally.
Some questions remain unanswered about what happened. Did the 50 belong to a club or organisation, say a sports club? If so, does the club really want such primitives among its membership?
A similar scene must never be repeated in any courtroom. And whoever organised that charade ought to give an explanation, although there can be no justification.
For the record, there is no such thing as she was asking for it or drunk women are fair game. If ostracism is the plat du jour in Listowel, then let it be served up to that Queue of Fools -- not Foley's victim.
- Martina Devlin
Irish Independent
