Green Party Justice Spokesperson Patrick Costello called for better balance in sentencing by removing restrictions on Prosecutors. “Natasha O’Brien has shown great bravery, in first calling out homophobic harassment and in speaking out and standing up against violence. The state needs to show the same bravery in reforming sentencing. The process of sentencing needs reform to prevent mistakes and ensure balance.”

Currently, the prosecution cannot set out what it feels is an appropriate sentence, this needs to change. The Defence is able to set out what sentence it feels is right and to offer mitigation, but the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions), on behalf of the victim and the community, is not in a position to set out what it thinks is a fair sentence or to highlight aggravating factors. This leads to an imbalance in the system that needs to be corrected.

This imbalance comes straight from “The Guidelines for Prosecutors” which set out how a criminal case should be run. These guidelines state that “…it is not appropriate for the Prosecutor to submit to the sentencing court bands or ranges of sentencing.” As a priority this needs to change, if legislation is needed then the Department of Justice should start drafting it as a priority”.

Concluding, he remarked, “There are also no sentencing guidelines for judges in this country to help prevent mistakes. Like lots of much needed reforms, whilst there is a process in train, it is slow and not delivering. The Government must support this process with greater resources so the work can be finished and finished quickly. Without these reforms, we will only continue to see more brave victims like Natasha O’Brien denied the justice they deserve.”