OUT BY 2028? IT’S NOT JUSTICE
PROVIDED he keeps his nose clean behind bars, rapist Eoin Berkeley will be back on the streets on January 31, 2028, at the very latest. However, judging by the level of misplaced compassion for violent criminals that now pervades our justice system, don’t be surprised if you hear he secures his freedom in time for the Christmas 2027 celebrations, mingling with the crowds under the bright lights on Grafton Street.
This week 25-year-old Berkeley was sent to jail for 14 years for repeatedly raping a teenage Spanish student in Dublin.
Berkeley’s 18-year-old victim was subjected to 21 hours of the most appalling violence, including three rapes involving elements of profound degradation.
She was threatened with having her hands cut off, she was subjected to strangulation, forced to take pills and told she was going to be murdered.
The torment this poor woman was forced to endure could hardly be more extreme.
And then after all that terrible evidence was given in court, after a full disclosure of all the injuries, grief and suffering this man caused and after he was convicted of these crimes, Berkeley was given a 14-year prison sentence.
TAKE into account the automatic 25% discount that applies to all jail sentences in this country (don’t ask me, because I haven’t the slightest idea what that’s for) and we arrive at an actual jail time of 10 years and six months. Exactly. And since the clock on this sentence started running on July 31 last year when Berekley was, thankfully, placed behind bars where he belongs, we arrive at the January, 2028, release date.
So, let’s be absolutely clear about one thing – there is no disputing the requirement for an independent judiciary.
Also, it has to be conceded that a judge, after listening to all the evidence and observing the demeanour of the witnesses, is best placed to hand down an appropriate sentence.
Nevertheless, having said all that, there is still room – indeed, a duty – in this country to disagree with a judicial decision when such disagreement is genuinely held. And the truth is, this sentence is very disagreeable.
Something is wrong with the way the criminal justice system responds to unlawful acts of violence in Ireland.
Something is wrong with a sentencing policy that fails adequately to reflect the revulsion in the broader community for such outrages as those perpetrated by the likes of Berkeley.
Simply put, there is something radically wrong when the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. And the Berkeley case is the latest in a long number of examples where that has happened.
Violence is the cause of so much misery. It results in a never-ending trail of destruction, in unspeakable tragedies, life-changing injuries and people being thrown, permanently, off their psychological centre of gravity.
Life, for them, is never quite the same again.
Proper sentencing is informed by the need to punish the offender (what the more genteel among us regard as nothing more than retribution) while still holding out the prospect of rehabilitation. But it must also include that crucial element of deterrence, a reminder to would-be criminals that they’ll pay a heavy price for their deviancy. Overall, proper sentencing must deliver justice, for the victim, the culprit and for all of us too. Allowing Berekley to regain his freedom in just over nine years’ time is not doing justice to the offences he committed. This is especially true in the light of expert evidence available to the court that he’d threatened the doctor who examined him and who confirmed he is suffering from a severe personality disorder. Even the judge said he was not optimistic about Berekley’s prospects of rehabilitation.
YET despite all that, Berkley will emerge from prison, free as a bird, when he’s still a young man in his mid30s, when the potential for further disaster and victim-making will clearly still persist. And the question is: how is any woman supposed to feel safe when that occurs?
Politicians, in fairness, have done as much as is reasonable to indicate public disapproval for violence such as rape. Those found guilty of the crime can receive a life sentence.
Despite this, judges continue to operate within a sentencing policy that seems disconnected from the broader society it is intended to serve.
Judicial discretion is worth protecting and judges must be allowed to design punishments particular to the circumstances.
However, if that discretion is exercised in a manner that seems more and more remote to the demands of an anxious and bewildered public, then there is only one answer for it.
Politicians may be forced to intervene to curtail that discretion – in the interests of justice and of society.
We may have already reached that point.