I was viciously beaten by ex-soldier in the street – but same unsettling question plagued me after he was finally jailed
The
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Natasha O'Brien says she never intended for her attacker to be so vilified
Credit: AYESHA AHMAD/RTE
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The Limerick woman was viciously beaten by former soldier Cathal Crotty
Credit: Collect
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Brave Natasha admits Crotty's jailing left her conflicted
He was
The DPP
But Natasha admits Crotty's jailing left her very conflicted.
She told The Irish Sun: 'A year ago I never felt listened to. My physical and mental scars were not considered by the court and handing him a suspended sentence completely compounded everything for me.
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'Then the DPP appealed it and for the first time in an Irish court I felt listened to and the court decided to send him to jail. But I took no pleasure in seeing a young man being led away to prison. In fact, I found the experience quite unsettling.
'He made a mistake. Yes, it was a very bad mistake but he's not the only person who's done something like this and so many others don't get punished at all.
'He was so vilified and became this poster boy for gender-based violence and that wasn't fair because he's not the only one.
'And who knows what effect all of this has had
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She added: 'If the courts had done its job in the first place then maybe he wouldn't have been so vilified in its aftermath or become this poster boy for the whole movement.
'So I think in many ways he became a second victim of this very flawed justice system.'
Natasha O'Brien bravely opens up on horror attack by Defence Forces soldier Cathal Crotty
Natasha was attacked after finishing a shift at a Limerick pub. She had asked Crotty to stop using homophobic language.
He grabbed her by the hair and pushed her to the ground, before punching her in the face until she lost consciousness.
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Vile Crotty later boasted on
Natasha was attacked just months after
'COULD HAVE BEEN VERY DIFFERENT'
And ahead of a documentary on Natasha airing on
'And it came so soon after Ashling Murphy died so it made me very aware that things could have been very different.
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'But
'If one small thing came from my case, it's that maybe it has helped others to be able to speak out or come forward. And if that has happened then everything has been so worth it.'
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Natasha said: 'I had to be a voice for so many others who didn't have one'
Credit: Liam Burke/Press 22
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A documentary on Natasha is airing on RTE 1
Credit: AYESHA AHMAD/RTE
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