Garda Jailed over cork assault

This country is gas, we should release all the paedophiles and rapists as they too will suffer more than the ordinary prisoners.
The bastard nearly killed the guy, his brain was bleeding FFS, he should have got 3 years and none of it suspended. He is a proper example of a scumbag thug.

Garda gets 18 month suspended sentence for beating a fella to an inch of his life.

On the same day a guy who accepted money to say hes the father of a Chinese kid to help the mother stay in the country, he gets 2 years in prison. Story below. Where's the justice.

"Roulan Lin and Graham Hopkins at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday. Andrew Downes

A MAN has been jailed for two years after accepting money from a Chinese woman so that she could register him as the father on her child's birth certificate and get an Irish passport for the boy.

Separated father of three, Graham Hopkins (44), from Castlepark, Headford Road, Galway, and hotel maid, Roulan Lin (26), with a former address at The Stables, College Road, Galway, both pleaded guilty at the Circuit Criminal Court to giving false information to a registrar at the Civil Registration Service, Galway, on April 20, 2009.

The pair also pleaded guilty to giving false information in connection with a passport application.

Lin came to Ireland in 2004 on a student visa to study English and worked in various hotels and fast-food outlets. She became pregnant by a Chinese man and gave birth to a baby boy on April 19, 2009.

She feared the child would not be allowed to remain in the country and she paid Hopkins, whom she had met through a mutual friend and who was in financial difficulty, €3,500 to name himself as the child's father on the birth certificate and on the passport application form.

Hopkins and Lin had been stopped by immigration officials at Dublin airport on February 2 last year on their return from a trip to China with the child.

Officials were suspicious the child, who had an Irish passport, was not his.

"He was trying too hard to be a parent and it made officials suspicious," said Sgt Paudie O'Shea.

He arrested the pair in May and they readily admitted giving false information to authorities.

He said Lin was in the country illegally at the time of the offence.

Sgt O'Shea said that following a case before the European Courts, Lin had had an opportunity to apply for an Irish passport for the child but that these offences and convictions would scupper that now.

Defence lawyer Aisling Wall said Hopkins got involved because he needed the money and she handed a demand letter for €30,000 into court from a mortgage lender.

Judge Raymond Groarke hoped the two-year sentence he imposed on Hopkins would act as a deterrent to others.

He imposed the same sentence on Lin but put a stay on the warrant until July 13 to allow her time to apply for the child's passport. The warrant would be issued at a fixed date if Lin had not been deported in the interim."

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/man-jailed-for-pretending-to-be-father-of-chinese-baby-2659622.html

DonJose wrote: »

Garda gets 18 month suspended sentence for beating a fella to an inch of his life.

On the same day a guy who accepted money to say hes the father of a Chinese kid to help the mother stay in the country, he gets 2 years in prison. Story below. Where's the justice.

"Roulan Lin and Graham Hopkins at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday. Andrew Downes

A MAN has been jailed for two years after accepting money from a Chinese woman so that she could register him as the father on her child's birth certificate and get an Irish passport for the boy.

Separated father of three, Graham Hopkins (44), from Castlepark, Headford Road, Galway, and hotel maid, Roulan Lin (26), with a former address at The Stables, College Road, Galway, both pleaded guilty at the Circuit Criminal Court to giving false information to a registrar at the Civil Registration Service, Galway, on April 20, 2009.

The pair also pleaded guilty to giving false information in connection with a passport application.

Lin came to Ireland in 2004 on a student visa to study English and worked in various hotels and fast-food outlets. She became pregnant by a Chinese man and gave birth to a baby boy on April 19, 2009.

She feared the child would not be allowed to remain in the country and she paid Hopkins, whom she had met through a mutual friend and who was in financial difficulty, €3,500 to name himself as the child's father on the birth certificate and on the passport application form.

Hopkins and Lin had been stopped by immigration officials at Dublin airport on February 2 last year on their return from a trip to China with the child.

Officials were suspicious the child, who had an Irish passport, was not his.

"He was trying too hard to be a parent and it made officials suspicious," said Sgt Paudie O'Shea.

He arrested the pair in May and they readily admitted giving false information to authorities.

He said Lin was in the country illegally at the time of the offence.

Sgt O'Shea said that following a case before the European Courts, Lin had had an opportunity to apply for an Irish passport for the child but that these offences and convictions would scupper that now.

Defence lawyer Aisling Wall said Hopkins got involved because he needed the money and she handed a demand letter for €30,000 into court from a mortgage lender.

Judge Raymond Groarke hoped the two-year sentence he imposed on Hopkins would act as a deterrent to others.

He imposed the same sentence on Lin but put a stay on the warrant until July 13 to allow her time to apply for the child's passport. The warrant would be issued at a fixed date if Lin had not been deported in the interim."

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/man-jailed-for-pretending-to-be-father-of-chinese-baby-2659622.html

Ah I get it, guy tries to help out a mother and her kid, gets two years in prison. More than likely in there with the violent, murdering scum.

Garda breaks a guys face and makes his brain bleed, goes home for dinner.

Justice has been done.

I ****ing love Ireland.

I think the way it works is that it's illegal to viciously assault somebody if you're from certain areas of Cork, Dublin and Limerick, have an inner city accent, and wear tracksuits instead of jeans.

Everybody else is entitled to beat people half to death with virtual impunity.

black francis wrote: »

Mother of two get 6 months jail time for stealing ambulance.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0527/1224297854063.html

Guard walks free after nearly killing someone in late night assault.

Welcome to Ireland.

Mother of two had about thirty previous convictions no doubt!

By the way can we stopped acting as though this man is the first person in the country to get a suspended.

There is all manner of criminal walking the street daily and we all know it. For instance there is a suspected drug dealer down the road from me and convicted child molester around the corner!

AudreyHepburn wrote: »

By the way can we stopped acting as though this man is the first person in the country to get a suspended.

Fair enough but how many got suspended sentices because they might be ruffed up a bit in Prision?

The reason he got off is that he was a Guard. Judge said so!

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

How on earth has he not served any jail time for this? It simply beggars belief that one man breaks anothers nose, teeth, fractures his jaw and leaves him with bleeding of the brain yet he walks free from court.

I'm not a bleeding heart liberal, I'm not overly conservative, most times I simply sit on the fence but this has honestly left me speechless. Someone please tell me how he has managed to get away with this and how the justice system see's this as justice having been served.

Regardless of anything else you can be absolutely certain had someone done this to a Garda they would be facing a very long time inside.

For the first time in my life I have bought a house. I no longer rent and move every f*cking year. I will finally have politicians calling to my door and the one thing I will press them on is the justice system in this country. It simply isn't f*cking good enough. It really honestly isn't.

I totally agree. I don't take this "sure he'll have a tougher time in prison because he's a guard lark". At the end of the day he is a citizen of this country like the rest of us and, therefore, should be treated like any one of us would be treated were we to beat someone to a pulp. I was cross enough yesterday when I heard a year of his sentence had been suspended, but to hear that the whole eighteen months has is unbelievable. I feel sorry for the guy who was subjected to this attack and his familiy, they must really feel let down by the justice system in this country.

DonJose wrote: »

Garda gets 18 month suspended sentence for beating a fella to an inch of his life.

On the same day a guy who accepted money to say hes the father of a Chinese kid to help the mother stay in the country, he gets 2 years in prison. Story below. Where's the justice.

"Roulan Lin and Graham Hopkins at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday. Andrew Downes

A MAN has been jailed for two years after accepting money from a Chinese woman so that she could register him as the father on her child's birth certificate and get an Irish passport for the boy.

Separated father of three, Graham Hopkins (44), from Castlepark, Headford Road, Galway, and hotel maid, Roulan Lin (26), with a former address at The Stables, College Road, Galway, both pleaded guilty at the Circuit Criminal Court to giving false information to a registrar at the Civil Registration Service, Galway, on April 20, 2009.

The pair also pleaded guilty to giving false information in connection with a passport application.

Lin came to Ireland in 2004 on a student visa to study English and worked in various hotels and fast-food outlets. She became pregnant by a Chinese man and gave birth to a baby boy on April 19, 2009.

She feared the child would not be allowed to remain in the country and she paid Hopkins, whom she had met through a mutual friend and who was in financial difficulty, €3,500 to name himself as the child's father on the birth certificate and on the passport application form.

Hopkins and Lin had been stopped by immigration officials at Dublin airport on February 2 last year on their return from a trip to China with the child.

Officials were suspicious the child, who had an Irish passport, was not his.

"He was trying too hard to be a parent and it made officials suspicious," said Sgt Paudie O'Shea.

He arrested the pair in May and they readily admitted giving false information to authorities.

He said Lin was in the country illegally at the time of the offence.

Sgt O'Shea said that following a case before the European Courts, Lin had had an opportunity to apply for an Irish passport for the child but that these offences and convictions would scupper that now.

Defence lawyer Aisling Wall said Hopkins got involved because he needed the money and she handed a demand letter for €30,000 into court from a mortgage lender.

Judge Raymond Groarke hoped the two-year sentence he imposed on Hopkins would act as a deterrent to others.

He imposed the same sentence on Lin but put a stay on the warrant until July 13 to allow her time to apply for the child's passport. The warrant would be issued at a fixed date if Lin had not been deported in the interim."

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/man-jailed-for-pretending-to-be-father-of-chinese-baby-2659622.html

damn skippy he got what he deserved. by doing so, the child and mother would be entitled to a lifelong stay in ireland, illegally claiming child benefits, free health care, if she didnt work the dole etc...

man.about.town wrote: »

damn skippy he got what he deserved. by doing so, the child and mother would be entitled to a lifelong stay in ireland, illegally claiming child benefits, free health care, if she didnt work the dole etc...

I know this is off topic...but how many Chinese have you ever seen drawing the dole

SeaFields wrote: »

I'm open to correction here but won he be sent to a smaller, less 'aggressive' prision for his own safety? The one where child abusers and that go. Cant remember the name.

Arbor hill I think. The reason it's considered safer is because the inmates are generally there for the same reason and as so, there's not as much hatred between them. A Garda though will be completely different, they'll want revenge.