A reply to Christy Galligan and his Jobstown remarks

The Donegal News has received a reply to a letter we published earlier this week from Mr Christy Galligan about the Jobstown verdict:

The Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin.

Dear Sir,

In his letter, Christy Galligan alleges that “there is a small cohort of extremists views on the Left and Right that want to dismantle the institutions that our forefathers fought and died for.”

Thankfully, one of those institutions is the trial by jury.

During the Jobstown trial, Judge Melanie Grealy and a jury of ordinary citizens sat through 8 weeks of evidence, much of which was never reported. During this time, the premature verdict that seems to have been unanimously, if prematurely, reached in the court of public opinion, that the Jobstown protest had “harangued and assaulted defenceless women” simply unravelled. The jury’s verdict did not surprise anyone who, like the jury, had actually followed the trial, including cross-examination.

I really hope that your correspondent is not trying to defame the judge or the jury, by implying that their decision, based on a full hearing of all the evidence, will bring the nation or its institutions into disrepute.

On the contrary, many of us now rest more easily, knowing that justice is attainable, even when media coverage has tried and found defendants guilty long before they reach the dock.

Yours sincerely,

Scotlyn Sabean
Stragar,
Killybegs,
Co Donegal

Please note that the views expressed here are those of our reader and not necessarily the views of the Donegal News.

Any response can be emailed to editor@donegalnews.com.

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