Tom Humphries: Guilty of child abuse

Shurimgreat

Did the victim submit a victim statement btw? I haven't heard of one mentioned.

I presume the leniency will be questioned in the appeal court.

Also one of the most depraved aspects of all this is Humphries knew from experience (articles he researched and wrote) of the lifelong impact on victims. Yet he went ahead anyways. Disgusting individual and hopefully he remains on the sex offenders register for life.

Birneybau

The way it is, very lenient sentence, he'll take his own life in prison.

Awful thing to say I know.

Shurimgreat

BoatMad wrote: »

I find this argument hard to understand, surely the defence should be entitled to demonstrate their client is multi -faceted , ie that like most people he is made up of good and bad things.

And he's not a monster , he's a human being that committed a serious crime, like many human beings unfortunately.

He's been given credit for volunteering to coach youth teams. It looks in hindsight he did so for the access to children it provided. It was an appalling abuse of trust. He deserves zero credit.

BoatMad

Shurimgreat wrote: »

He's been given credit for volunteering to coach youth teams. It looks in hindsight he did so for the access to children it provided. It was an appalling abuse of trust. He deserves zero credit.

I was merely arguing that the defence should and is entitled to present their client in the best light.

It's the judge in his or hers sentencing that then takes each piece of the jigsaw and weighs up the punishment. Presumably the judge took all the issues in balance to arrive at a considered opinion.

BoatMad

Birneybau wrote: »

The way it is, very lenient sentence, he'll take his own life in prison.

Awful thing to say I know.

Why would he do that, I don't think any case was presented that questioned his mental health

Shelflife

So how long more will he actually serve ?

holyhead

Given the heinous nature of his crimes he has, in the legal sense, got off lightly. Personally I think he should be castrated one way or the other. He might have good characteristics but to do what he did was truly monstrous.

BoatMad

holyhead wrote: »

Given the heinous nature of his crimes he has, in the legal sense, got off lightly. Personally I think he should be castrated one way or the other. He might have good characteristics but to do what he did was truly monstrous.

I certainly think murder is heinous , after that the term has little meaning

If you think castration is a suitable punishment for this crime , what would you do to premeditated murderers , or even simple thiefs( would you cut off their arm ? )

Snickers Man

ChikiChiki wrote: »

More or less green lights child abuse.

Are you for real? Who in their right mind would want to do ANY time in prison for sex offences? Especially if they are a well known and easily recognisable figure? He was fond of talking up his "north-side" street cred capability as a journalist: now he's going to find out how the hard chaws of the prison world view "nonces". No doubt this will make you happy.

He pleaded guilty. He got his sentence. He's going to jail. Justice has been done.

Is there something you can take for apoplexy? Some people round here really could do with some.

Shurimgreat

BoatMad wrote: »

I was merely arguing that the defence should and is entitled to present their client in the best light.

It's the judge in his or hers sentencing that then takes each piece of the jigsaw and weighs up the punishment. Presumably the judge took all the issues in balance to arrive at a considered opinion.

I argued in an earlier post that character references put everyone in a difficult position, those giving them, judges, defence lawyers, victims, victims families. They distort justice in my view. There is very little to mitigate Humphries crimes.
That he volunteered to coach youth teams does not show him in a favourable light no more than the many paedophiles in this country who volunteered to coach underage sports for it seems one specific reason.

Unfortunately in this case the punishment came nowhere near to matching the crime.

CeilingFly

I'll probably be villified by the righteous mob, but everyoine needs to understand that the indo will take the worst possible angle because Humphries was an Irish Times reporter.

Remember there's no love between the two media groups and Denis O'Brien has banned Irish Time journalists from newstalk because they questioned the George Hook debacle.

Put it this way - if he lived in the UK no offence would have taken place.

The girl was 16 before he tried to have sex with her. So if they were based in Newry, there would have been no criminal offence - immoral yes, stupid yes, creepy yes. But no offence.

And you'd be surprised by the number of people in Ireland that think the age of consent is 16 here too.

So sentence is probably about right for the offence committed, but he will forever be villified by the indepedent - just like Micheala mcCollum - her crime? She didn't give the indo the first interview.

Basically, you need to understand that the indo and many tabloids are only interested in sensationalism and not actually propoer journalism / reporting. - Unfortunately too many suckers believe every word they print.

BoatMad

Snickers Man wrote: »

Are you for real? Who in their right mind would want to do ANY time in prison for sex offences? Especially if they are a well known and easily recognisable figure? He was fond of talking up his "north-side" street cred capability as a journalist: now he's going to find out how the hard chaws of the prison world view "nonces". No doubt this will make you happy.

He pleaded guilty. He got his sentence. He's going to jail. Justice has been done.

Is there something you can take for apoplexy? Some people round here really could do with some.

Agreed, but some of course are already lighting the bonfires , torches and throwing the noose over a tree

holyhead

BoatMad wrote: »

holyhead wrote: »

Given the heinous nature of his crimes he has, in the legal sense, got off lightly. Personally I think he should be castrated one way or the other. He might have good characteristics but to do what he did was truly monstrous.

I certainly think murder is heinous , after that the term has little meaning

If you think castration is a suitable punishment for this crime , what would you do to premeditated murderers , or even simple thiefs( would you cut off their arm ? )

Sexually abusing a child is a hideous thing to do both the physical implication and the breach of trust an adult has towards a child.

As long as he is not castrated he poses a real danger to children and always will.

Goat the dote

Birneybau wrote: »

The way it is, very lenient sentence, he'll take his own life in prison.

Awful thing to say I know.

With a bit of luck a few more of his ilk would do that as well

ThisRegard

elefant wrote: »

Did anyone else see the Irish Times article on TH today?

I'm actually speechless reading it. On the day a man was convicted of child sex offences? How has this made it past an editor?

https://twitter.com/IrishTimes/status/922800365417857024

edit: seems they removed the tweet, but it's still on their website for now (https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/district-court/tom-humphries-acclaimed-sports-writer-with-controversial-views-1.3267087)

I spend ages looking for that over lunch time as I saw it in passing earlier. Now I know they removed it, hence my time wasted trying to find it.

josip

Anybody have a cached copy of the IT article they could post here?
It's gone from their website now also.

BoatMad

CeilingFly wrote: »

I'll probably be villified by the righteous mob, but everyoine needs to understand that the indo will take the worst possible angle because Humphries was an Irish Times reporter.

Remember there's no love between the two media groups and Denis O'Brien has banned Irish Time journalists from newstalk because they questioned the George Hook debacle.

Put it this way - if he lived in the UK no offence would have taken place.

The girl was 16 before he tried to have sex with her. So if they were based in Newry, there would have been no criminal offence - immoral yes, stupid yes, creepy yes. But no offence.

And you'd be surprised by the number of people in Ireland that think the age of consent is 16 here too.

So sentence is probably about right for the offence committed, but he will forever be villified by the indepedent - just like Micheala mcCollum - her crime? She didn't give the indo the first interview.

Basically, you need to understand that the indo and many tabloids are only interested in sensationalism and not actually propoer journalism / reporting. - Unfortunately too many suckers believe every word they print.

Indeed , Ireland being largely an outlier in that regards with most European countries having 16.

ThisRegard

washman3 wrote: »

Powerful people surround themselves with powerful people.!!
That's the way this Banana Republic works.:mad:

It's just twitter rumours at the moment, I wouldn't be getting too worked up over it yet.

BoatMad

holyhead wrote: »

Sexually abusing a child is a hideous thing to do both the physical implication and the breach of trust an adult has towards a child.

As long as he is not castrated he poses a real danger to children and always will.

And if she was 17 ???? , or lived in the uk ? A sense of perspective is needed here

ThisRegard

josip wrote: »

Anybody have a cached copy of the IT article they could post here?
It's gone from their website now also.

URL posted earlier is either out of date or wrong, you can find it here
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/district-court/tom-humphries-a-sports-writer-who-became-a-national-figure-1.3267087

ChikiChiki

ThisRegard wrote: »

It's just twitter rumours at the moment, I wouldn't be getting too worked up over it yet.

Meh, we all know deep down its how Ireland works. Who you know always helps..

BoatMad

Shurimgreat wrote: »

I argued in an earlier post that character references put everyone in a difficult position, those giving them, judges, defence lawyers, victims, victims families. They distort justice in my view. There is very little to mitigate Humphries crimes.
That he volunteered to coach youth teams does not show him in a favourable light no more than the many paedophiles in this country who volunteered to coach underage sports for it seems one specific reason.

Unfortunately in this case the punishment came nowhere near to matching the crime.

Thankfully , we employ professional judges to adudicate crimes in this jurisdiction not anonymous posters on boards.ie

twill

CeilingFly wrote: »

The girl was 16 before he tried to have sex with her. So if they were based in Newry, there would have been no criminal offence - immoral yes, stupid yes, creepy yes. But no offence.

Grooming children for sex is a criminal offence pretty much everywhere.

Did you read her victim impact statement? He nearly destroyed her life.

He groomed a child. He's a predator.

Macy0161

CeilingFly wrote: »

Put it this way - if he lived in the UK no offence would have taken place.

The girl was 16 before he tried to have sex with her. So if they were based in Newry, there would have been no criminal offence - immoral yes, stupid yes, creepy yes. But no offence.

And you'd be surprised by the number of people in Ireland that think the age

They have a "position of trust" section in the UK Sexual Offences Act, which puts the bar back at 18, so I don't think you're correct with this assertion tbh.

BoatMad

twill wrote: »

Grooming children for sex is a criminal offence pretty much everywhere.

Did you read her victim impact statement? He nearly destroyed her life.

He groomed a child. He's a predator.

Grooming an adult for sex is typically called courting , in many jurisdictions she is factually an adult for the purposes of sexual concent
I don't diminish his crimes , but a sense of perspective is needed here

Shurimgreat

Shelflife wrote: »

So how long more will he actually serve ?

Good behaviour, etc etc, they are saying he will be out Christmas 2019. So just over a year.

Shurimgreat

BoatMad wrote: »

Grooming an adult for sex is typically called courting , in many jurisdictions she is factually an adult for the purposes of sexual concent
I don't diminish his crimes , but a sense of perspective is needed here

A disturbing post to say the least. It sounds like you are apologising for him. She was 14 I believe when the grooming started. A child by any standard.

elefant

ThisRegard wrote: »

URL posted earlier is either out of date or wrong, you can find it here
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/district-court/tom-humphries-a-sports-writer-who-became-a-national-figure-1.3267087

They've removed the original and replaced it with this version.

They original title was, incredibly, 'Acclaimed sportswriter with controversial opinions'!

holyhead

I suspect that those who gave character witness for Humphries may well regret doing so on reflection. Given the seriousness of the charges Im surprised the two men gave him character references

twill

BoatMad wrote: »

Grooming an adult for sex is typically called courting , in many jurisdictions she is factually an adult for the purposes of sexual concent
I don't diminish his crimes , but a sense of perspective is needed here

Courting a child for sex? Is that what you are calling it?