Victim blaming can be a dangerous pursuit in Ireland. Just ask George Hook!
Another example was aired on Prime Time last Thursday. It concerns the outrage felt by the family of one Shane O'Farrell of Monaghan, killed while cycling on a main road back in 2011. The motorist who hit him failed to stop and was subsequently apprehended and charged with several offences relating to the incident. He was convicted of leaving the scene of the accident but cleared of the more serious charge of dangerous driving.
Family of hit-and-run victim criticise judge's report (rte.ie)
What angered the family was that the driver, a Lithuanian national, was at the time on bail for numerous petty offences and should not have been at liberty, they say, to drive on the night of the accident. Their request for an inquiry into how the man was at liberty resulted in a retired judge examining the case to recommend if any further enquiries were necessary.
Although his report has not yet been officially published, Prime Time got its hands on a copy and announced on Thursday that he does NOT recommend a further enquiry. What further enraged the family was the judge's comment that the cyclist had been "negligent" by cycling at night while wearing dark clothing and with no lights on his bicycle, front or rear.
This they say "Blames Shane for his own death." They say the focus should be on the driver and his previous actions which should have seen him remanded in custody at least, or at best serving a jail term for another offence for which he had been convicted but had managed to avoid because of an administrative foul up.
They maintain that Shane O'Farrell was legally entitled to be cycling the road on a summer's evening while the driver should not have been there at all.
I can sympathise with anyone who has lost a family member, especially at the young age of 23 but using a harder head instead of a softer heart, I think the family is wrong.
It is an offence to cycle at night without lights on your bicycle. That is simply fact. So the cyclist was breaking the law. It is also negligent, in my view, for an experienced cyclist to be cycling on any road, let alone a main national route after dark without adequate visible clothing. O'Farrell was wearing an armband and had reflective strips on the pedals of his bike. Not enough, but that's just my opinion.
The family points out that it was a summer evening. Well it was. August 2nd, to be precise and the collision occurred at about 10:15pm. Consulting an almanac, albeit for this year but the times won't vary greatly, reveals that sunset occurs in Carrickmacross at 9:23pm on that date. So it would be well dark at 10:15.
There is no doubt that the driver was a scrote. And a foreigner. He had been arrested numerous times for petty theft such as shoplifting. The car he was driving had no insurance or NCT. He was subsequently jailed for other offences and deported from Ireland, although he is now free to return should he wish. But the judge pointed out that his previous offences were not of a violent nature, nor had he ever threatened violence. Remanding petty criminals in custody while awaiting trial would quickly fill the country's jails and the man had never failed to show up for a court appearance. And anyway, none of this had anything to do with the collision on a main road in Monaghan.
One takes a risk any time one ventures on to the road on a bicycle. Cyclists, and I am one as well as being a frequent motorist and pedestrian, have a responsibility to mitigate that risk to themselves AT LEAST up to the minimum requirements of the law. Which was not done in this case. Whether he was hit by a pious elderly nun who had failed to see him in the gloom or by a feckless drug-dependent immigrant--as he was--their culpability for the accident should be assessed on the evidence of the crash alone. There was reasonable doubt that the driver had been driving dangerously and so he was acquitted. His behaviour elsewhere should not be an issue, I'm afraid.
