My issue is with the media who labelled McNally a drug addict before they labelled him anything else, which only serves to mark him as apart from society, and relieves the state or society of any responsibilty towards David Gilsenan, the victim.

Thanks, Kaz.

Hi Sweary, begs the question, what sentence would he have received were he clean? Not very up in criminal matters, but it might have been 13 years anyway i.e. the Judge ignored his habit as an excuse for shooting the man.I could be way off though.

It’s the legal crowd who postulate these mitigating circumstances. And why wouldn’t they if their client gains some benifit. The law’s an ass here, cause there’s no way back from this one. Just takes one scumbag to go off his rocker when strung out on smack, and there’s your convienent precedant.

But a violent criminal who goes around shooting people in the face doesn’t deserve any sort of reprieve from their full sentence because of a wish to detox. Besides, even if you did allow for a period in rehab before the start of a prison sentence, chances are that the prisoner would lapse back into old habits sooner rather than later. Gaol is the best gaff in the world for drug-taking; there’s nothing else to do and in general, the authorities would rather you were cheaply sedated than expensively frustrated.

The old “jumping off bridges on LSD” chestnut is mostly cobblers – scare-stories for kids. But yeah, heroin is the great sedative; it’s not exactly something you’d want to stab a cat on.

Jimmy, “out of touch” is the sad truth. Some of the statements made by judges during sentencing over here are absolutely mind-blowing – it shows a worrying cluelessness when it comes to drugs and their real consequences, and when you see how comfortable an Irish judge is blaming the drug instead of the criminal taking it … well, it would alarm the Jaysus out of you. I’m all about personal responsibility, me.

It annoys me too that drug dealers are always hauled up on their personal responsibility, despite personal circumstances, but drug addicts are treated as if they’re poor, sick eejits. My own personal feeling is that the dealer sates a demand – and I certainly don’t know any drug-user that was nabbed by a pusher in a schoolyard. Dealers = evil, addicts = lost. Doesn’t add up to me.

Sparrow, in many cases, our laws prevent the judge from handing down as severe a sentence as they would personally like, which, I suppose, can be a bad or good thing, depending on the judge. I really would like to see the criminal addicts get the same sentences as the sober dealers – overspending on the mind-altering substances is no excuse when it comes to acting like a thug.

I’ve seen the fuckers coming out of the courts, laughing like a gurgling drain, and already looking for their next victim to rob / shoot / kill.

The missus is a barrister, and some nights she comes home sick to the stomach after getting these fuckers off with light sentences due to some out of touch auld fart sleeping behind the bench. It’s her job… it pays well, but it never sits right, EVER!

Me… I’d volunteer to execute every last one of the shit on the shoe of life scumbags.

No need to inject any humour here.. the swearing lady done good.