Evil triumphs when good men do nothing

That almost a dozen people stood by as a 16-year-old boy was beaten within an inch of his life is a very sad reflection of our society, writes Dan Buckley

One heroic act can embolden a nation to better things, as a single moment of courage enhances the human spirit

Gardaí at the scene of the attack at the petrol station in Corbally on the Clare/Limerick border. Picture: Liam Burke/Press 22

A FEW years ago a colleague of mine was walking through Limerick city centre when he spotted a big burly man knocking an elderly woman to the ground before grabbing her handbag and running off.

Without a moment’s hesitation, my colleague gave chase along the length of O’Connell Street, tackled the robber to the ground and made a citizen’s arrest, which all citizens are entitled to do.

Everyone, from the elderly lady to the city mayor, was full of praise for his efforts.

“Sure anyone would do the same,” he said.

If the harrowing trial heard earlier this week at the Central Criminal Court is anything to go by, he was mistaken. The sad reality is most people would stare transfixed and do nothing to aid the victim of a crime.

That is exactly what most people did on July 23 last year at a petrol station in Corbally, near the Limerick/Clare border. Eleven witnesses watched a 16-year-old boy being beaten almost to death by an 18-year-old in the care of two health workers.

He was being transferred back to his accommodation by the two workers when he demanded the driver stop at the service station.

The 16-year-old boy had been waiting for his mother. It was her usual place to collect him at night as she felt that, being a brightly lit and busy service station, her youngster was unlikely to come to any harm.

She relied on the fact that people meant pro- tection — she was wrong.

The attacker was caught on security camera inflicting 65 kicks and stamps to his victim’s head, two stamps to his chest and 26 punches.

The assault lasted five minutes — five minutes that changed a boy’s life forever. He is now brain damaged and will remain so until his dying day.

“I beat the head off him. I danced over his head,” the attacker boasted when he was arrested.

Gruesome CCTV footage played in court showed the victim sitting on a windowsill when he was attacked. The assault was so savage the judge warned that anyone in court who was squeamish should leave. Yet what was shown on CCTV was also seen by almost a dozen people who stood by and did nothing. When the boy lay motionless in a pool of blood on the ground, he was still being kicked and beaten. Even when the attacker momentarily moved away, nobody intervened. One motorist drove past the boy on the ground and when he was gone the attacker returned to stamp, kick and punch the teenager.

It was only when a good Samaritan finally intervened that the assault was stopped. By then it was too late to save the youngster from the effects of the beatings.

The 12-year sentence imposed by the trial judge reflected not just the seriousness of the crime but the revulsion that all decent people would feel in the face of such savagery. But what Mr Justice Carney — nor anyone else — cannot alter is the fact that the 16-year-old lad must now endure a life sentence of his own. Having gained seven honours in his Junior Cert, he now has slurred speech and his handwriting is three times slower than average.

His mother must also serve a life sentence of sorts. In her victim impact statement she described the horror of seeing her son lying on the ground, recognising him only from his clothes.

“He had been battered so badly and his head was swollen and black,” she said. “It’s a vision I’ll take with me to my grave.”

According to the statement most attributed to the Irish philosopher Edmund Burke, “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”. Evil triumphed at that petrol station in July of last year. Eleven good citizens watched the horror unfold and did nothing. It is surely a test of any society that good people should do something in the face of such evil.

That is why we need heroes, not the Superman types but flesh and blood ones like my colleague. Heroes make a huge moral contribution to all our lives. One heroic act can embolden a whole nation to better things because a single moment of courage enhances the human spirit. To be a hero is to enrich all our lives and to expand people’s sense of what is possible for a human being. Ideals like courage, honour, and justice define us but they must be acted upon.

The heroes of 9/11 were not supermen. The firefighters who sought to save their fellow citizens in the midst of calamity were no different to the rest of us, except in this respect — when duty called, they answered.

Just like my colleague.