The sentencing in the Kyle Hayes assault case took place yesterday in Limerick Circuit Court.
As you would expect the sentence handed down by the Judge has generated an enormous amount of comment online, on platforms like Twitter/X, YouTube, TikTok, and so forth.
What amazes me is the ability of many of the commenters to jump to a dumb conclusion.
A commenter does not like or agree with the sentence and tells us that “this is what is wrong with the justice system”.
That is the wrong conclusion to draw, in my humble opinion. The only conclusion you can draw is that you did not like or agree with the sentence.
But you cannot draw conclusions and inferences about an entire system of justice simply because you disagree with the judgment of the judge who has heard all the evidence and is operating within certain sentencing guidelines.
If you did draw such a conclusion based on one sentence with which you disagree it is, by definition, a dumb conclusion.
The justice system has many problems and challenges. But to conclude that the entire system is a failure because you don’t agree with a particular sentence in a particular case is simply untenable.