Two violent assaults on women, a slap on the wrist for the soldiers — 100 years apart
Natasha O'Brien outside Limerick Courthouse at Judge O'Donnell's last court sitting. Private Crotty's vicious assault on her, which she thought might end in her death, has led to panic attacks and nightmares. She has also suffered from recurring PTSD and, as a result, lost her job. Picture: Brian Arthur
Over a century ago, on September 3, 1923, a young woman, 22-year-old Hanna O’Connor, of Glenbeigh, Co Kerry, was returning from a night out. She and her friends had enjoyed music and dancing and were walking the four miles home when they happened to meet a group of Free State soldiers, one of whom was Lieutenant John Hunter.
The young women and the soldiers were engaged in conversation when a shot rang out striking Hanna in the abdomen, and she collapsed into the arms of one of her friends. She died of her wounds two days later, before which she gave a statement to the Civic Guards. As the young women spoke and joked with the soldiers, she said she responded to one who asked if they were ‘Free State girls’, that she was, in fact, a ‘die hard’, that is, a supporter of the anti-Treaty side.
