Natasha O'Brien says her attacker is victim of Ireland's justice system
Campaigner Natasha O'Brien has said her attacker is a victim of Ireland's justice system.
In 2022, the Limerick native was viciously attacked by Cathal Crotty, who was then a member of the Irish Defence Forces. He was given a three-year suspended sentence in June 2024.
An appeal was lodged the following month, and the sentence was overturned by the Court of Appeal in January this year, and he was sentenced to two years in jail.
But Natasha admitted Crotty was also a victim. "It's not his fault that the system is broken. If that judge last year had insured justice, my attacker would always have received justice.
'Like I am the primary victim but Crotty is the secondary victim now of the justice system because there was a media manhunt against him. That could all have been prevented by that judge and nobody would know his name if the judge hadn't made that decision and made that mistake.
'He has now been impacted by all of this as well. People can make really really serious mistakes and there should be accountability and punishment, but that doesn't mean that their entire life should be destroyed.'
In her RTE One documentary, Natasha, which aired last Wednesday, she told viewers that the night she was attacked, she had been defended a passer by on the street who was being subjected to homophobic comments by Crotty and his pals.
And despite the horrific assault that happened to her, Natasha said she would defend the person again.
'I would do it again to be honest. I don't see the point in not caring about other people. It's our job as human beings to support other human beings and if we can't do that, why are we even here? We are living our lives and if we can't stand up for others then what is the point.'
Natasha said she feels like her own 'personal fight for justice' is now over and she hopes to make more documentaries.
'It has been an emotional rollercoaster but I'm slowly starting to heal now and I'm finally on a new chapter and journey.
'I feel like my own personal fights for justice are now over so now it's trying to go onto bigger things and trying to use this case as a great example of what shouldn't happen again.
'I'm really passionate about trying to continue along to make sure this doesn't happen again for others. I wanted to bare my soul. I'm really happy with how it turned out.
'There is massive potential to do more and work on another project exploring restorative justice and going down that route and how do we really achieve a sense of justice for anyone in the system. I'd love to potentially explore that too.'
The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week
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