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 Dublin ~ Friday, December 18, 2009
 Listowel priest steps down
Scroll down to read widespread support for Dan Foley's female victim, disgust for Foley's Fan Club legitimised by Fr. Sean Sheehy, and judgement that Foley's 7 year prison sentence was indeed JUST A priest who shook hands with a Listowel nightclub doorman awaiting sentencing in court for sexual assault has today stepped down.
The Bishop of Kerry Bill Murphy has accepted an offer by Fr Seán Sheehy to withdraw from his work in the parish of Castlegregory.
Fr Seán Sheehy, having retired from an American diocese, was substituting for the parish priest of Castlegregory. He had stood as a character witness at the sentencing of nightclub doorman Danny Foley (35).
The Bishop of Kerry yesterday disassociated himself from Fr Seán Sheehy, who shook hands with Foley, awaiting sentencing in court, and provided him a character reference in which he said he was always respectful to women.
Fr Sheehy was one of up to 50 people who queued in the courthouse in Tralee to shake hands with sex offender Danny Foley (35) and embrace Mr Foley before he was sentenced.
Foley (35), of Meen, Listowel, Co Kerry, was sentenced to seven years in jail, with the final two suspended, for sexually assaulting the woman outside a nightclub in Listowel in June 2008.
Director of the National Women's Council Susan McKay said the scenes in the courtroom of people queueing to shake hands with Foley before he was jailed have no place in a civilised society.
Ms McKay said it is “intolerable” that the victim had to suffer the “insulting and outrageous behaviour” of those who queueing and it “must never be allowed to happen again”.
Yesterday it emerged the victim of a sexual assault told counsellors she feels she may have to leave her home town having watched people queue in the courtroom sympathise with her attacker Dan Foley.
The victim had been discovered by a Garda patrol in a semiconscious state and naked from the waist down, alongside a skip in a car park near the nightclub.
Foley told gardaí he had found her there, but later changed his story when it emerged CCTV footage showed him carrying her from the club to the spot.
Ms McKay said: "This man used extreme violence against his victim, then lied about what he had done, forced her to go through a court case and denigrated her in his evidence.
“She was brave to bring her case, and brave to see it through. She deserves our respect and gratitude."
Sinn Féin’s Justice spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh said the scenes in the courtroom “sent out a dangerous and very negative signal to victims”.
He said the case underlines the urgent need for reform of procedures in the courts service.
"What we do not need is such cases being made all the more difficult by the type of scenes witnessed in Kerry this week,” he said.
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 Dublin ~ Saturday December 19 2009
'Overwhelming' show of support for the victimBy Ralph Riegel
THE Kerry Rape Crisis Centre (KRCC) has been "totally overwhelmed" with messages of support and sympathy for the 22-year old woman at the centre of the Listowel sexual assault controversy.
The centre has provided support for more than a year to the young woman who was sexually assaulted by nightclub bouncer Danny Foley (35).
Workers at the centre also expressed deep concern over scenes in the Circuit Criminal Court last Wednesday, when 50 people, mostly middle-aged men, queued up to shake hands with Foley before he was sentenced.
Upset
The victim was forced to watch the bizarre procession -- and was deeply upset by the incident.
KRCC director Vera O'Leary last night said that they were totally taken aback by the sheer volume of messages of support for the victim from all over Ireland.
"I almost had to push open the door this morning with the number of letters and cards of support," she said.
"We also had more than 600 hits [on the internet] from people who want to show their sympathy and solidarity with her. We also had a huge number of calls from people with messages of support, with our switchboard totally lit up," she added.
The KRCC is also providing support for the young woman as she is expected to stage a press conference at 2pm today to discuss her ordeal and her reaction to last Wednesday's controversial events in the Circuit Criminal Court.
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Dublin ~ Saturday December 19 2009
 Shame on jackasses who treated attacker as victim
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.
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 Dublin ~ ~ Friday December 18 2009
My interview with parish priest who shook hand of sex beast in front of victim left me speechless INJUSTICE: Priest Sean Sheehy backed Danny Foley
By Claire Bryne
I helped to launch the newly refurbished Well Woman Centre on Pembroke Road in Dublin this week.
 The service, which has been around since the Seventies, has a progressive approach to the sexual health of both women and men and has led the charge in providing contraceptive advice and care, while also promoting the health of women from the ages of 12 to 90.
Just hours before the launch was held, I interviewed the local priest Sean Sheehy on Newstalk who explained to me why he felt it appropriate to shake the hand of a man who had been convicted of a serious sexual assault on a young woman in Kerry.
The priest went on to detail how he had been proud to provide a character reference to the court before Danny Foley was sentenced.
While the Well Woman Centre is telling women that it is their right to look after themselves sexually, physically and emotionally, other sectors of our society send out the clear message that standing up and demanding justice for a sexual attack is contemptible.
Only those people who demonstrated their support for convicted sex attacker Danny Foley in the Tralee courtroom this week know why they did so.
But the entire sorry saga is likely to have far reaching implications for victims of sexual assault. Put yourself in the shoes of the victim.
The gardai and the legal profession know that it is extremely difficult to bring a charge of rape or sexual assault to court. If, as in this case, the assault happened outside a nightclub, where both parties had been drinking, then it is even harder to prove.
The evidence in this case, however, was conclusive. CCTV footage and testimony from the victim led a jury of ten men and two women to unanimously decide that Foley was guilty.
Having been vindicated by securing a guilty verdict, the victim arrives in court to hear the sentence being handed down and is denigrated by the local priest and the rest of them who saw fit to file up to Danny Foley and shake his hand.
She can have been in no doubt that, as far as her peers in that courtroom were concerned, it was she, not Foley who was guilty of a heinous crime.
Her aunt said on the radio that the victim had been refused service in shops in Listowel and shunned on the street.
The treatment of this woman sends out a dangerous signal to anyone who has been sexually attacked.
As a society we are saying that if you were drunk, you deserved it.
If the man has standing in the community, it was you who led him astray.
If he is sent to prison, you have ruined his life. Any woman who has been the victim of a sexual assault in recent times will have had cause to stop and think in the wake of the Kerry case.
What is the point of trying to seek justice if this is how I am going to be treated?
My interview with the parish priest left me speechless. He brushed off the medical evidence of dragging injuries on the woman's back and legs and bruising on her wrists.
He declared that the seven-year sentence, with two years suspended, was a 'miscarriage of justice'.
All that was wrong here, he said was that Foley and his victim had engaged in sexual act outside of marriage and that was immoral.
The launch of the new Well Woman Centre in Dublin was a heartening event and serves to remind us of how far we have come.
It is incredulous that on this same small island, a woman will probably have to leave her home town because she was brave enough to take action against a man who destroyed her life in the pursuit of sexual gratification.
- Claire Bryne
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Dublin ~ Friday December 18 2009
What signal did these ignorant Neanderthals send?By Gerry O'Carroll
The scenes at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee, at the sentencing of Danny Foley, have caused shock, anger and outrage.
 Foley, a bouncer, was jailed for seven years, with two years suspended, for a sexual assault on a young woman of 22. After sentence was passed, a group of between 50 and 60 middle-aged to elderly men hugged and sympathised with him.
Some of them broke into tears. They commiserated with him as if he was a victim of some blind injustice or terrible wrong.
What made this scene more surreal and appalling was that the victim was in court, surrounded only by a garda and a member of the Rape Crisis Centre.
She was subjected to this scene, which added another dimension of pain and suffering to her ordeal.
I want to say that these misguided, ignorant, Neanderthals who disgraced themselves in court are not representative of the kind, warm-hearted and noble spirited people of Listowel where I am proud to be a local. One of the other extraordinary aspects of this hearing was that, before sentencing, a priest, Fr Sean Sheehy, provided a character reference for this convicted fiend.
Fr Sheehy said there wasn't a bad bone in Foley's body and that he was respectful to women, a comment that Judge Donagh McDonagh totally dismissed.
The judge said the evidence given in court gave a lie to Fr Sheehy's assertions. Fr Sheehy's intervention was outrageous, despicable and totally inappropriate in the circumstances. He was one of the people who shook hands with the accused man.
In the name of God, what signal does that send out? He did not go up to the only victim in this case or shake her hand, the young woman who the judge described as behaving in a dignified way.
Judge McDonagh was moved by the simplicity of her victim impact statement.
I, like all decent people, would salute her courage and her dignity in coming forward and enduring the harrowing ordeal of the witness box.
Foley told lie after lie and told in his crude and coarse language that he had come across "your wan" when he was going for a "slash".
However, the judge pointed out to him the CCTV showed him carrying this almost semi-conscious woman across the car park to a skip.
Foley told lie after lie. In the witness box, he re-victimised her and tried to destroy her reputation and character before the jury. He pleaded not guilty and subjected his victim to the extraordinary ordeal of giving evidence.
This monster at no stage during the trial or afterwards showed any remorse and gave no apology.
It was a vile and sickening attack and only God knows the lifelong scarring -- physical, psychological, and emotional -- that this victim must now carry. I want to show my solidarity in this column with the victim.
I admire and appreciate the courage and dignity of this young woman who has come forward to testify at such enormous personal cost to herself.
Foley has brought shame on himself, his family and his friends by his predatory and uncontrollable sexual lust. I think in view of the dreadful publicity and the smearing of an entire town, the media would do well to remember it was a jury of 12 Kerry people in the North Kerry town of Tralee that convicted this monster.
As a mark of solidarity, I am suggesting that the people of Listowel send cards and letters of support to the garda station in Listowel.
This might bring the victim some comfort and support as well as showing that the real decent people of Listowel are behind her and support her all the way.
I wonder what my fellow townsman and one of our country's most famous playwrights and authors who wrote so perceptively of the frailties of our human condition would have made of all this.
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Dublin ~ Saturday December 19 2009
Letters to the Editor
Support for sex offender just sickening"THE courtroom witnessed extraordinary scenes as 50 people, mostly middle-aged and elderly men, queued past the press box to shake the hand of the convicted man, and hug him after he was brought from the cell to the dock." (Irish Independent, December 17)
When I read this in the US on the internet, I could be forgiven for thinking it was some kind of perverted initiation rite into the Hells Angels in Devil's Canyon. But in Listowel, the town of the late, great John B Keane, who gave us so many humorous and dark vignettes of life in Kerry?
I am afraid that Listowel, forever after will be known as the town where 50 morally handicapped bogmen shook the hand of a man convicted of sexual assault, as if he had just scored the winning goal for Kerry in an All-Ireland final.
May God forgive Listowel, because nobody else will.
Bartholomew O'Dwyer
Cumberland, Maine, US
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I WOULD just like to express my horror and disgust at the actions of Fr Sean Sheehy and his supporters during the sentencing of convicted sex offender Danny Foley.
Foley has been convicted of one of the most heinous and degrading crimes a member of society can commit and to see a priest blatantly support him is absolutely sickening.
The Catholic Church has alienated enough people with the abuse of children in the past and you would think that a priest would play no part in the support of this animal.
Danny Foley's victim's life will never be the same again but are these supporters even giving her a second thought?
I hope that no daughter, sister, wife or friend of these men ever experiences a rape or sexual assault as it seems clear that they would get no support from them.
I am a young woman from Co Kerry and I go out and have a few drinks at the weekend; and whether you have had one drink or 10, sexual abuse is sexual abuse.
No one deserves to be attacked in any way, shape or form. I think it is very clear that Danny Foley does not have the "utmost respect for women".
The victim should never apologise for bringing Foley to court as she has taken a dangerous predator off our streets. Anyone who makes her feel guilty should be ashamed.
AE Carroll, Co Kerry
~~~~~~~~~~~ Dublin ~ Friday December 18 2009
Judge had good reason to impose this 'harsh' sentenceBy Dearbhail McDonald, Legal editor
NORMALLY, when a sexual assault case leads to the type of public outcry generated by the Danny Foley case, the target of people’s ire is the judge for imposing what is perceived to be a lenient or unjust sentence.
But there can be little criticism of the sentence he has received.
Indeed, Foley’s prison term conforms with a recent trend of increasing severity for rape and sexual assault reflecting, finally, society’s abhorrence for these heinous crimes.
Justifying his decision to provide a glowing reference for Foley – who was handed down a seven-year jail term for sexually assaulting a woman in Listowel – Fr Sean Sheehy described the sentence as “extremely harsh”.
Leaving the bizarre community response in north Kerry and the courage and dignity of Foley’s victim aside, can it be said that the five-year prison term – two years were suspended – was unduly harsh?
Discretion
Sentencing patterns are difficult to establish and assess in rape and sexual assault cases in Ireland. Judges have a wide degree of discretion.
Judge Donagh McDonagh described Foley’s lies as revolting and the language used to describe his victim as odious.
Foley was convicted of sexual assault, which attracts a maximum 10-year sentence if the victim is an adult and 14 years if the victim is under 17.
As Circuit Court Criminal sentences for sexual assault go, Foley’s sentence was at the upper end of the scale, but for very good reason.
He told a series of revolting lies. He refused to retract his claims until he was made aware of CCTV footage which showed him carrying his victim to a skip.
An employer described him as honest and trustworthy; Fr Sheehy said he didn’t have an abusive bone in his body.
His lawyers argued that the assault had been at the less grave end of the scale, but Judge McDonagh disagreed.
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