Society ‘suffers culture of violence and vengeance’

GREATER numbers of people are willing to use extreme violence when they feel they are being “slighted” in some way, a leading criminologist has said.

Commenting on the back of six murders so far this year, including the fatal stabbing of Good Samaritan Warren O’Connor, Dr Paul O’Mahony said there was “a culture of violence and vengeance” that wasn’t there a generation ago.

Sinn Féin councillor Larry O’Toole, a local representative in Mr O’Connor’s area and family friend of his partner, said people are now terrified to confront another person over an incident, such as a noisy party, for fear of being killed.