A protest was held in Monaghan Town over the weekend in solidarity with Natasha O'Brien. The Limerick woman was viciously assaulted by a 22 year old soldier who received a suspended sentence. Since then, many people, including the Taoiseach, has strongly criticised how the Defence Forces have handled the aftermath of the attack.
Local Aontú representative Olivia Larkin attended the recent protest which was held in Monaghan Town. Speaking to Northern Sound, Ms Larkin believes that the sentencing of Cathal Crotty sets a "bad precedent" for others who may feel that they can now get away with such actions. The local representative has called for "more to be done" by the justice system and Gardaí when it comes to protecting and offering support to all victims of abuse.
When asked why it was important for her to be involved with the solidarity protest, Ms Larkin told Northern Sound; "We just felt that enough was enough. We need to stand in solidarity with this young woman to say that we don't support this and that we're against the lenient sentencing that seems to be happing here time and time again. We want to call attention to the fact that violence against women is almost at an epidemic proportion in Ireland at the moment. Women in Monaghan who I've been talking to anecdotally just don't feel safe on the streets any longer. There has been incidents in our town as well of men harassing women and women don't feel the level of safety that they once did in the past. Now with the sentencing of Cathal Crotty, victims may feel that if anything did happen would it even be worth their while taking it to court and that should never be the case."
