Convicted Rapist Beaten and Chased Out of Dublin Suburb by Mob

Danny Ward - Beaten by Mob

This story actually dates back to June 2015 but a discussion on Politics.ie website has  recently resumed on the topic of how society should treat people who have been convicted of child sex abuse, have served their sentences and been released back into community. The Politics thread has a typical  title -

Kiddy fiddler attacked by mob in Dublin, should criminals be afforded anonymity?

Danny Ward - who is on the sex offenders register - was set upon in Ringsend by a number of men. He had been staying in a bed and breakfast in the area and  locals had just found out about it. Ward had been drinking in a local pub when he was spotted by a man who recognised him from previous media coverage. Apparently the man who spotted him called a few of his associates and Ward left the pub, but by this stage the other individuals arrived at the scene and Ward "suffered a few thumps" - in the words of the Evening Herald report.

Officers from the local Garda Station rushed to the scene. No arrests were made and according to the Herald report "sources said that there were no plans to make arrests in relation to the incident." Ward was brought to St Vincent's Hospital, where he received treatment for what were described as minor injuries. Sources told the Herald that he will now be "re-housed" in another location. 

Ward has been driven out of a Dublin community before.  In October 2014, locals gathered outside a northside bed and breakfast to protest at his residence there. Reports that he had been spotted acting suspiciously outside of a girls' school in Glasnevin saw a group of angry parents gather at his residence and demand he be moved on. Apparently "details of his sentence or crime can't be published in order to protect the identity of his victim, but as a convicted sex offender Ward is required to sign on at a garda station every seven days."

However sex offenders are not safe in the presence of the police either. There is a easily accessible video  on Facebook showing him being assaulted in Dun Laoghaire  garda station. Not surprisingly there was a follow-up headline in the Irish Daily Mirror on 1st August 2015

Notorious Paedophile Flees Ireland Vigilante Mobs - and is seen on board ferry heading to UK

TO BE CONTINUED

Extracts from discussion on politics.ie

• Dame_Enda   24 January 2016

I think that people are losing faith in the ability of the justice system to protect them and vigilanteeism like this is a symptom of that. The judiciary must accept some of the blame. This concurrent sentence thing needs to be weeded out, and judges should get compulsory training in victim-sensitivity.

A few days ago an American cop received a 265 year sentence for taping African American women.

• Kilbarry1   25 January 2016

Sex Crime and Public Hysteria

[ Originally Posted by Uh oooh 

He has done his time, he has paid his debt to society, does he not deserve protection? ]

[ Originally Posted by freewillie 

So has Larry Murphy ]

Here's an extract from The Journal following Larry Murphy's release from jail.
Larry Murphy · The42

LARRY MURPHY Aug 15th 2010, 6:47 PM

THE BROTHER OF convicted rapist Larry Murphy has spoken of his inability to understand how anyone could “carry out a crime like that”.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One yesterday, Tom Murphy said that he was being ostracised in his home town of Baltinglass, Co Wicklow. Murphy said that people who knew him were turning away from him in the street because he is Larry’s brother.

He emphasised that Larry would not be staying with him following his release from prison three days ago, and said that their family has been destroyed by him. ...... 

I seem to recall another radio interview in which the brother said that his son had to change school 2 or 3 times because he was being harassed about his UNCLE Larry Murphy. 

If that kind of thing had occurred half a century ago during "The Age of De Valera" (and of John Charles McQuaid), our Irish "liberals" would be screaming about it still and claiming that the repressive sexual morality imposed by the Catholic Church had fueled public hysteria . 

[Incidentally Larry Murphy's crime was NOT paedophilia which is where the hysteria started, but the craziness is spreading.]

• Kilbarry1

Sex Crime and Public Hysteria (2)

....I seem to recall another radio interview in which the brother said that his son had to change school 2 or 3 times because he was being harassed about his UNCLE Larry Murphy. ....

Well now I couldn't locate a report of that interview in our "newspaper of record" the Irish Times but I see that The Irish Daily Star has it. And my memory was slightly off. Tom Murphy had to move his CHILDREN (not just his son) three times between schools because of the abuse they were getting from other children.
Larry Murphy tracked down to secret hideout
[dated 28 November 2012 ?]

..... And last night a brother of the notorious rapist spoke out about his family’s torment over his brother’s crime — adding that a documentary to be broadcast tonight will reopen his families wounds.

Heartbroken Tom Murphy told The Star he has been forced to move his children from school three times because of ongoing publicity in the wake of Larry’s release from prison.

“This is a never-ending nightmare for me and my family and now to see it all being dredged up again… it’s just heartbreaking,” Tom Murphy said.

“People had a right to know when Larry was being released from prison and I have no argument with that… people needed to know that he was out and what he has done.

But Tom added: “But the stories that have been written since then… some of which were pure lies and related to me and my family have destroyed our lives.

“I have had to move my children between schools three times over the abuse they are getting from the other children.”....

It's a pity that The Star did not make that rather important fact their headline (instead of "Larry Murphy Tracked Down to Secret Hideout") as it would have made it much easier to find. HOWEVER note that they repeated it twice in their report. 

So I will repeat my main point. If that obscene scenario had occurred during the Age of De Valera and McQuaid, we would be hearing about it still. It wouldn't be necessary to spend time trawling the internet to find the basic facts.

Last edited by Kilbarry1; 25th January 2016 at 12:56 AM.

• Kilbarry1 27 January 2016

[  Originally Posted by Don Wan 

Beware of the stupidity of vigilantes.

Doctor driven out of home by vigilantes

Self-styled vigilantes attacked the home of a hospital paediatrician after apparently confusing her professional title with the word "paedophile", it emerged yesterday.

Dr Yvette Cloete, a specialist registrar in paediatric medicine at the Royal Gwent hospital in Newport, was forced to flee her house after vandals daubed it with graffiti in the middle of the night.

Doctor driven out of home by vigilantes | UK news | The Guardian ]

A good example of vigilante hysteria in one way but this incident has also been exaggerated. The likely culprit was a teenager or 2 and the doctor was supported by neighbours but nevertheless moved out because she felt uncomfortable. I have read reports in which she was supposedly forced out by a mob.

MOST cases of mob hysteria are either covered up or briefly reported and then forgotten. The reason why this one is widely known (and indeed exaggerated) is that it followed a News of the World campaign to "name and shame" child abusers. Thus so-called "respectable" journalists could claim that it was the fault the tabloid press or "gutter" journalists. In fact hysteria about sex crimes has been fueled mainly by RESPECTABLE media like the UK Guardian, The Times and - in Ireland - the Irish Times. Sometimes it is the "gutter" journalists who actually expose the hysteria - as with the Irish Daily Star interview with the brother of Larry Murphy.[See Post #134] This is because the "gutter" journalists are not much concerned with ideology and Political Correctness and will publish ANYTHING - including stuff that shows the ant-sex-crime mob in a bad light!

• Kilbarry1

[ Originally Posted by Éireann_Ascendant 

True...but that's an argument for longer sentences and the like. 

You get repeat offenders who will never change, but you also get innocent people caught up with 'paedo scares':

Disabled man burned to death by vigilantes who wrongly suspected him of being a paedophile

Thugs beat up a ­vulnerable disabled man and burned him to death because they mistakenly believed he was a paedophile.

Neighbours accused Bijan Ebrahimi, 44, of being a pervert when he was seen taking photos of youths vandalising his hanging baskets.

A court heard the rumours led to the keen gardener’s horrific death when Lee James, 24, kicked him­ ­unconscious.

With the help of pal Stephen Norley, James then dragged him outside, soaked him in white spirit and set him alight.

Police earlier took Mr ­Ebrahami away for questioning as an angry mob chanted “paedo, paedo”, but he was released when officers found he had done nothing wrong. ]

This horrific case is far less known than the one about the "paediatrician mistaken for a paedophile" - possibly because our "liberal" journalists, so keen to expose abuse of power by bishops or politicians, have no wish to investigate the results of their own hate-filled outpourings. They can't blame this one on the Catholic Church or Tory grandees or even the News of the World so it has gone down the memory hole even though it happened less than 3 years ago. But imagine if it had happened in Dublin in the 1950s when De Valera was Taoiseach and John Charles McQuaid was Archbishop. People like Fintan O'Toole and Vincent Browne would be ranting about it still!