THE PRIEST who stood as a character witness at the sentencing on Wednesday of a Listowel nightclub doorman convicted of sexual assault yesterday publicly criticised the verdict and jail term imposed by the judge.Fr Seán Sheehy, parish priest in Castlegregory, was also among 50 or so people who queued in court to shake hands with Danny Foley prior to his sentencing for sexual assault at Tralee courthouse on Wednesday.
The queue of people had to pass the victim who sat at the edge of the front seat in court waiting to make her victim impact statement.
Fr Sheehy, whose evidence was criticised by the trial judge, Donagh McDonagh, defended his description of Foley as a man who was highly respectful of women and did not have an abusive bone in his body.
The priest told Radio Kerry he did not accept the verdict and described the sentence of seven years, two of which were suspended, as too harsh. There was a lack of evidence but the jury believed the woman, he said. He added that to him the victim did not seem particularly traumatised.
“I really do not accept the verdict of the jury,” Fr Sheehy told the radio station.
Fr Sheehy said the victim and Foley had consumed alcohol, and there were no witnesses, only CCTV footage.
“Given the circumstances, I can’t understand how a jury can convict him beyond a reasonable doubt. The fact is juries have convicted innocent people before.”
Fr Sheehy also criticised the sentence in the case.“The sentence was extremely harsh, savage . . . both were under the influence of alcohol. The sentence is way too harsh.”
He also said the victim didn’t seem to him to be traumatised or particularly nervous. “If the police didn’t come, would there have been a conviction at all?”
Foley’s fiancee also gave a radio interview in which she said he was “not the monster that he’s being portrayed as”.
Identified only by her first name, Michelle, she told Newstalk Foley could “hold his head high”.
“In my opinion whatever was said by that girl was said to be Gospel, and everything that Danny said was rubbished and made out to be lies, and I just don’t believe that to be the case.”
Michelle said she would stick by Foley, whom she believed to be innocent. “I made a solemn promise to myself on the first day of the trial that if one piece of evidence that was produced that could convince me that Danny was guilty of what he was accused of, that I would walk away. And that did not happen.”
When it was put to her that the victim had bruises and cuts on her body, she said, “according to his story what happened was by consent and I believe if you’re in a state of undress lying on tarmac with a very big man you’re going to have cuts and bruises”.
When asked what she thought of the 50 or so people who queued to sympathise with Foley, she said: “I think that just goes to show the support that is out there for Danny and . . . the number of people that don’t believe he is capable of doing what he was convicted of.”
Michelle was asked what she made of the fact that Judge Donagh McDonagh had said he believed Foley had lied and had made “revolting assertions” regarding his victim which were designed to denigrate her in the eyes of the jury.
“I believe the judge was so harsh on Danny because for whatever reason the conclusion he had come to was that Danny was telling lies all along. To me, that was the judge’s opinion, that wasn’t the evidence,” she said.
“Nobody who knows him can believe this of him . . . He has no previous convictions. He has never been in any trouble of any description.”
She said that Foley would appeal the sentence, and would continue to live in Listowel on his release.
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