Suzy gives her thoughts on the Nally case and predicted there would be a lot of talk in the ‘sphere about this but it doesn’t seem to have happened yet. She also points to the ever hilarious rantings of United Irelander to be the opposite of what she believes. UI wants the man freed, yet Nally himself said he deserves jailtime.
After reading Suzy’s link to the Vincent Browne piece in the Business Post I was of the view that the man was definitely guilty of manslaughter and possibly murder. Vincent seems to suggest the victim was executed with the killing shot, a shot to the head. However there seems to be conflicting reports whether the second shot was to the head or shot him in the left arm and went through it and into his chest and lungs.
If you read UI as the counter to Browne then you will probably side with Suzy since it seems UI’s argument is the same as some of the loony liberals UI hates would post about on Indymedia. Suzy, pick a better person who disagrees with your view, you’re being lazy and going for easy kills. (This is the point in the post where UI decides he needs to make a rebuttal. Can you hear the mouse go clicky clicky?)
However my view softened when I heard an interview with Nally that was replayed on the Last Word tonight. He lives very close to where those two brothers were sexually assaulted and beaten last year and one died in hospital later from the beating. This was where the girl sliced the guys penis off too if I recall. They were travellers too that did it. And yes it does matter as all but the most openminded folks generalise, it is what humans do to prevent information overload.
An interesting fact was that Nally said he was guilty and he should do time. When he was reloading the gun he was of the firm belief that the other guy who had fled in the car was getting the rest of the clan to come back and kill him. It wasn’t about teaching a lesson to them, it was about the fact that he struck out at robbers on his land and then realised they could kill him or do worse before they killed him, like what happened to his neighbours. It was about he was an old man, he was alone, all he had left were his possessions and some of them were taken already. The state of feeling so weak and powerlessness can make one do irrational things. Thieves were on his land and threatening his world.
Seems to me he believed he was fighting for his life. If you believed that you could be sexually assaulted and murdered in a horrific way, what would you do? Me? I’d use force, I’d use every means to preserve my life. At the same time, there is a cost for destroying life, no matter who’s it is, if we respect our own life so much then we need to pay the price when we take another’s. I think the sentence the man got was fair.
Nally was asked did he speak to the victims family and he said no. He was asked if he did what would he say and strangely he said that they should cop on and start behaving and acting responsibly. I fear that Nally was just in the wrong place at the wrong time but that his case is just a convenient way to polarise people. Bigots love this kind of stuff to push their own agenda and their barely concealed hatred. A rally in Mayo will not be productive. People in Mayo should be reflecting on their community and what could have been done to prevent something like this. Look after your old people, tell your neighbours to check in with you, make sure everyone is safe, communicate with the Gardai more and as Nally said, some need to cop on.
I pointed out (over at UI’s blog) the stark contrast between his denunciations of the Pit Stop Plowshares for ‘attempted murder’ (look to the comments) and his outrage over the light sentence most people think Nally got. I usually find him an interesting read, but I think he’s gone off the reservation over these two issues.
Like him or loathe him, UI’s opinions seem to be an accurate reflection of Irish society in general. His views are probably a lot more main stream (not making a judgement here) than most of those in our little blog world.
Damien Mulley
“Suzy also points to the ever hilarious rantings of United Irelander to be the opposite of what she believes.”
Excuse me but why are my views ‘hilarious’? Did you watch the episode of the Late Late Show where Irish people gave their views on the matter and most said he should NOT be in jail?
Wow you must have been in stitches laughing at that…
EWI
“I pointed out (over at UI’s blog) the stark contrast between his denunciations of the Pit Stop Plowshares for ‘attempted murder’ (look to the comments) and his outrage over the light sentence most people think Nally got”
There’s nothing to contrast. The ‘Pit Stop Plowshares’ or ‘Aeroplane Tampering Airheads’ as I would call them, set about tampering with a US plane – not long after 9/11 it’s worth pointing out – which could have led to the deaths of those on board the plane had it gone airborne. Mr Nally was a man who respected the law and who had been terrorised by Mr Ward, a man with a history of criminality. Two very different things.
I’ll say this much. If the people who tampered with that plane avoid jail time and Mr Nally has to rot in jail for what he did, then our justice system is obscene.
There’s nothing to contrast. The ‘Pit Stop Plowshares’ or ‘Aeroplane Tampering Airheads’ as I would call them, set about tampering with a US plane – not long after 9/11 it’s worth pointing out – which could have led to the deaths of those on board the plane had it gone airborne. Mr Nally was a man who respected the law and who had been terrorised by Mr Ward, a man with a history of criminality. Two very different things.
He deliberately executed a man, and not in self-defence. What the PSP’s did, in comparison, was merely vandalism. Your claims otherwise are absurd in the extreme (to put it politely), and maybe you should reflect on why people are mocking them.
EWI
“He deliberately executed a man, and not in self-defence. What the PSP’s did, in comparison, was merely vandalism.”
Ward pushed Nally to his wit’s end. I tend to symapthise with victims of crime, not the pereptrators of crime. Degenerates who tamper with a plane put lives at risk deliberately. It is wrong to tamper with the brakes of a car and wrong to tamper with an aeroplane as well.
“Your claims otherwise are absurd in the extreme (to put it politely), and maybe you should reflect on why people are mocking them.”
LOL! You’re a funny guy. My views reflect widespread public opinion. Perhaps those who mock – who are in the minority – should reflect on that. 🙂