Judge Martin 'Suspended Sentence' Nolan strikes again

Rakish Paddy

When I started reading this story I was in disbelief for a second. Then suddenly I thought "Oh, I wonder was Martin Nolan the judge"...
http://www.thejournal.ie/darknet-3311338-Mar2017/

I'm not quite sure what the point of my post is, but it just really disheartens me to see judges persistently let the perpetrators of sexual and/or violent crimes off with little or no punishment, and this guy seems to be the worst of the worst in that regard if you look at his history.

It seems like a real kick to the teeth of the victims of crime, when judges allow crimes of a sexual/violent nature to go either unpunished entirely like in this case, or only punished minimally as in several of this judge's previous sentences.

What's the solution to this problem of judges showing a lack of judgement? Should it be easier to sack judges for dodgy sentencing? Is there political interference from above to avoid sentencing people to prison due to lack of cell space? Do we need to build more prisons? Do we need mandatory minimum prison sentences for all crimes of a sexual or violent nature, to protect crime victims from dodgy judges?

I just don't understand how someone who searched for "girls of a young age, 5 yo to 12 yo – penetration" and possessed > 300 pornographic images of children can be allowed to go free and unpunished. Apparently he didn't look at enough child porn to be jailed!

SEPT 23 1989

Soft on sex offenders tough on garlic smugglers

Very odd man

jmayo

Ah damn Sept 23 1989 you got in before me.

He did say after all that it gave him "no joy at all to jail a decent man" when he sent the garlic smuggler to jail for six years, which by the way was two consecutive three years sentences.

Hell even larry murphy got concurrent sentences for kidnap/false imprisonment, rape, bodily harm and attempted murder.

The more you learn these days the more sense it makes that the good judge martin was once a garda. :rolleyes:

skankkuvhima

The "Martin Nolan" fan club will be along soon. I could mention a few usernames but I might get in trouble ;-)

rawn

I'm on the fence about this one. I feel he should have served *some* time in prison but Nolan's sentence (for once) makes sense.

The man has not re-offended since he first appeared on their radar, and has been named and shamed. I would have included mandatory psychiatric evaluations on a regular basis though. It's a tough one.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Noveight

Murphy said Coghlan had also visited a number of known child pornographic websites after doing a search on the Darknet for “girls of a young age, 5 yo to 12 yo – penetration”.

Man, that's dark and depressing

SEPT 23 1989

ziggy wrote: »

This garlic thing comes up here all the time. The guy defrauded the state of €1.6 million, he deserved to go to jail!!

Six years for a non violent crime?

Google the sentences handed down by this judge for horrendous crimes against PEOPLE

Outlaw Pete

ziggy wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Not for six years he didn't (which is the point) and the appeal court agreed:

The appeal court ruled the sentence imposed last March was not proportionate and that the trial judge had erred in principle by failing to take into account mitigating factors.

Ulysses Gaze

ziggy wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

And how much time are the two Anglo guys getting for their skulduggery?

18 months or 2 years.

Get rid of judicial discretion and get rid of concurrent sentencing.

Icemancometh

I saw the thread, and thought you were referring to this case I saw earlier. Not a suspended sentence this time, but a concurrent one. Not even a slap on the wrist.

kupus

Ah, the irish justice industry the gift that keeps on giving.... to the lawyers and all the other associated cling-ons.
shower of parasitic freeloading cnuts.

Samuel T. Cogley

Perfectly reasonable sentance. What would jailing the guy accomplish?

No direct victim impact, no reoffending in 7 years, gave the guards the info and plead guilty.

Clearly a sick indivdual that needs to be kept an eye on, and the guards do that quite well.

eviltwin

I wish we'd stop describing these images as child pornography. They are images of child abuse and while he may not have participated in the abuse personally by accessing these images - and possibly paying for them - he is part of the problem that allows this to continue. He should have received some jail time, even just a few weeks.

bajer101

On the same day, he handed down this sentence. 2 Yrs with 18 months suspended for failing to make VAT returns.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/dublin-advertising-director-sentenced-to-two-years-over-tax-1.3027918

Here we go

Only thing that will give proper sentences in Ireland will be political will. But it's Ireland so like priory hall, the homeless , ect ect , they will say there's Notting they can do it's out of there hands. Till unfortunitly someone takes it into there own hands a father of a rape victim maybe or the parent of a child killed by a drunk. Then as the pool numbers go down just like magic they'll find a solution

Rakish Paddy

Icemancometh wrote: »

I saw the thread, and thought you were referring to this case I saw earlier. Not a suspended sentence this time, but a concurrent one. Not even a slap on the wrist.

Oh Christ. That guy really needs to be removed from the bench. It's a disgrace that there's no mechanism to remove judges who repeatedly display gross negligence / incompetence in failing to sentence offenders (a concurrent or suspended sentence is effectively a free pass, and so meaningless that it shouldn't be considered a sentence at all).

bajer101

If I discovered that I was to appear in front him for no tax on my car I'd be tempted to commit a sexual offence beforehand to get on his good side.

GhostyMcGhost

Busy man it seems....

http://www.thejournal.ie/man-no-extra-jail-time-using-spoon-stab-3311833-Mar2017/

SEPT 23 1989

bajer101 wrote: »

On the same day, he handed down this sentence. 2 Yrs with 18 months suspended for failing to make VAT returns.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/dublin-advertising-director-sentenced-to-two-years-over-tax-1.3027918

Not to keen to send out deterrents to depraved sex offenders

Strange individual

Muahahaha

Judge Martin Nolan strikes again

A RETIRED senior civil servant in the Department of Health and Children, who was caught in possession of nearly 60,000 child pornography images and videos, has avoided jail.

Brendan Phelan (66) was today given a suspended three-year sentence in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after he pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography at his home on March 26, 2013.

Phelan, with an address in Merrion Grove, Stillorgan Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin, admitted to gardaí that he had a “fair bit” of child pornography relating to young boys when his home was raided five years ago.

He is a retired principal officer with the Department of Health and Children, the court heard.

Most of the images and clips were “naturist”, the court heard, but others showed pre-pubescent boys engaged in sexual behaviour.

Sentencing Phelan, Judge Martin Nolan noted that there was an “unfortunate delay” in bringing the case to court due to a lack of resources within the garda unit. As a result, Phelan was only charged last year.

MOD - We already have a thread here discussing this particular case