Six months does not reflect society’s revulsion at ordeal endured by victim

THE controversial case in which a Dublin businessman was ordered to pay a victim of sexual assault a sum of €75,000, and had five-and-a-half years of a six-year sentence suspended, suggests that here is one law for the rich, and another for the poor, in this country.

The sordid details of the case are, by now, well known. Aviation broker Anthony Lyons, whose name has constantly been prefixed in media reports with the words “successful“, “wealthy” and “high-profile”, spent the evening of Oct 2, 2010, drinking pints and watching a rugby match in his north Dublin local.

In the early hours of the next morning he hailed a cab, with the intention of continuing drinking in the city centre, but instead decided to get out at Griffith Avenue and walk the short distance home.