Brave Ratoath abuse survivor says victims "need to come first" in justice system

A brave abuse survivor from Ratoath whose ex partner received a fully suspended sentence for inflicting a campaign of terror on her for two years says victims need to come first in the justice system.

Jody Duggan (23) is standing in solidarity with Natasha O'Brien, the young woman who was beaten unconscious in Limerick city in 2022 in a vicious unprovoked attack that saw her perpetrator, Irish soldier Cathal Crotty receiving a three year fully suspended sentence last week.

The outcome sparked widespread fury with protests held across the country in recent days calling for the decision to be overturned.

In Jody's case her ex partner Jake Boles was responsible for a string of violent assaults that included choking the make up a until she passed out, slamming her head against a wall, smothering her with a pillow, throwing her down stairs and spitting in her face.

Twisted Boles tried to control every aspect of Jody's life from her finances, who she could see and what she could wear.

Judge Orla Crowe fully suspended a two-year jail term handed down to Boles at Trim Circuit Court in January 2023 but that decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in July last year who sentenced him to one year in prison.

Brave Jody waved her right to anonymity after the ruling and spoke out publicly about the leniency of the sentence.

"It feels as though you take one step forward and three steps back," said Jody.

"I know our situations are different but they are also very similar in a sense that, her attacker also got a suspended sentence as did my ex boyfriend," she added.

"You'd think that from my situation, how that came out public and the uproar it created and how it had to be appealed they would have learned from that.

"I'm glad Natasha is out there protesting because it feels like that is the only way women are going to be heard at this stage .

"A suspended sentence is not sending the right message and is not going to make him learn from the mistakes he made.

"Victims are being made a mockery of."

The make up artist believes Cathal Crotty who is expected to be expelled from the defence forces by next week for his conviction should deserves to lose his job.

"There should be no way in hell he should be representing this country," said Jody.

"They have such an opportunity to make an example," she added,

"Mistakes should happen once not over and over again.

"The victim is always an after thought In the system"

Jody who last year was an ambassador for Women's Aid's "Too into You" campaign previously described the horrific abuse she received at the hands of her former partner.

"He'd press his knuckles so far into my face that it would bruise, he would choke me until I passed out, smother me with a pillow, push me down the stairs. He'd never be remorseful after it. He'd say oh I have a split personality, he'd nearly switch it and make me feel bad for him.

"I tried to break up with him multiple times but he said he would kill himself and he would hold a knife to his neck. He would tell me that no one would ever believe me over him.

At breaking point, brave Jody finally found the courage to tell her family what was going on.

"I was in the car with my mam one day and I just broke down and I said I can't hide it anymore and I told her everything," she said.

Jody says she feels she was "badly let down" by the Gardai, having to battle for the case to be taken seriously with a GSOC investigation now underway.

With Bole's one year jail term nearly up The Ratoath woman says she is dreading the call to say he's been released.

"I'm waiting for that phone call to tell me that he is out of prison and I'm back to square one of constantly looking over my shoulder and living in fear.

"A year is not enough. There were so many offences, this was tactical, it was planned. I was smothered with pillows, pushed backwards down the stairs, I could have been killed.

"People get longer sentences for less.

"The incidents may have happened over two years but will effect me for the rest of my life.

"People don't realise the impact an abusive relationship can have on someone, the cuts and bruises fade but the psychological and emotional abuse that I endured will sit with me forever.