Justice must not mean revenge

For the past three months, the papers have been replete with stories about the trial of the Ulster Rugby players. They were acquitted, but the publicity never ceased to abate, with the focus on their WhatsApp texts and their unsavoury use of language. We both feel they should be reprimanded for the tone of these messages, but dismissal seemed an awfully draconian punishment.

They were young, they made mistakes, they over-drank, and while not excusing them for their actions, we find in the articles of the press very little, if any, forgiveness and offering a chance to right wrongs and give them an opportunity to redeem themselves.

The vitriol, we found, was excessive, and for many, nothing short of expulsion would satisfy their thirst for justice, but does justice mean revenge?

The media scrutiny was unending; everyday their faces were in the paper along with embarrassing sexual details of their encounter with the complainant, often giving the impression that their sexual adventures were akin to a criminal offence. While the complainant endured trauma herself, she was never exposed to the public in a way that these men were, and could go on with her life in anonymity.

We also find the Bank of Ireland’s comments that these men and their actions do not represent the core values of the institution rather hypocritical, to say the least. This is a bit hard to take after the many scandals it has had, particularly the tracker mortgage scandal when it had to repay a huge amount of money to its customers.

We do not condone the incendiary tone of the messages, but we do feel that ruining their lives, forcing them to leave their homeland for work and a sense of gloating that justice is done, does not seem to portray a country with a heart. We feel they deserved better treatment from their own.

Séamas Kirkpatrick/Kevin Murphy Cork/Ballincollig