Monthly Archives: January 2013

(Jim Doyle and Fiona Doyle (above) and Fiona’s father Patrick O Brien, who begins a three-year prison term this afternoon. The sentencing judge, Paul Carney has admitted he was wrong and insensitive to let O Brien walk free from Dublin’s Central Criminal Court on Monday).

YOU decide.

“GK’ writes

1. What was overturned today was not the sentence of 12 years (with 9 suspended)  imposed by Judge Carney on Patrick O’Brien, but the related decision to grant Mr O’Brien bail pending his appeal against this sentence.

2. The rules in relation to the granting of bail pending appeal were laid down by the Supreme Court in DPP V Corbally, and contemplate the granting of bail by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

3. It appears that in deciding to grant bail Judge Carney may have been influenced by the belief that the sentence imposed by him was likely to be overturned by the Court of Criminal Appeal as too harsh, given Mr O’Brien’s state of health and previous Court of Criminal Appeal decisions. He said that he wanted to get the Court of Criminal Appeal’s view on the correctness of this sentence immediately and as soon as possible.

4. Today’s decision by Judge Carney to revoke the bail granted by him is also unusual. Revoking bail normally only occurs if an accused breaches the conditions of their bail. In this case the argument put forward by the DPP in seeking to have bail revoked, which appears to have been accepted by Judge Carney, seems to have been that only the Court of Criminal Appeal had jurisdiction to grant leave to appeal and consequent bail.

5. Whether in the context of bail or otherwise, it is extremely rare for a judge to reverse their own ruling; normally this is a matter for an appeal court.

6. It remains to be seen what view the Court of Criminal Appeal will take on the question of bail pending appeal, and the undue harshness (or, in the event the DPP appeals, undue leniency) of the sentence imposed by Judge Carney, which would involve Mr O’Brien serving three years in jail.

Earlier: “Procedurally Confused”

(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)


Some of London-based South African artist Jonty Hurwitz’s mind-bending, digitally distorted anamorphic sculptures. Each precisely constructed steel, resin, copper or perspex piece begins with the fragmentation of a real world object with millions of computer calculations. Sez he:

For the anamorphic pieces its an algorithmic thing, distorting the original sculptures in 3D space using 2πr or πr3 (cubed). Much of it is mathematical, relying on processing power. There is also a lot of hand manipulation to make it all work properly too as spacial transformation have a subtle sweet spot which can only be found by eye. Generally I will 3D scan my subject in a lab and then work the model using Mathematica or a range of 3D software tools. I think the π factor is really important in these pieces. We all know about this irrational number but the anamorphic pieces really are a distortion of a “normal” sculpture onto an imaginary sphere with its centre at the heart of the cylinder.

Hurwitz exhibits at Kinetica in London next month.

colossal

(Tom Fitzgerald (top) and (below) from left: Sean Hillen, of Democrats Abroad Ireland, Sally and Tom Fitzgerald and Dennis Desmond, chairperson of Democrats Abroad Ireland at the Gresham Hotel, Dublin)

“Kate has been dead now for 17 months and we still have no reliable Garda report on how she died.
I ask you as members of Democrats Abroad to contact anyone who might be able to influence our search for justice and closure in the case of Kate’s death.  We do not wish to pervert justice, we only seek a timely and proper investigation into the cause of her death.  Write to Minister for Justice Allen Shatter, Minister for Foreign Affairs, The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny and anyone else who might be able to exert influence.  Write to your congressman in the US, to your Senator and to the media in both Ireland and the USA.  The fundamental beliefs of the Democratic party call for truth and justice and we seek no less for Kate Fitzgerald who did so much for the Democrats Abroad.”

Tom Fitzgerald to members of the Democrats Abroad Ireland at its Inauguration ball where Kate Fitzgerald was posthumously honoured for her work with the group

Kate’s parents, Tom and Sally, are awaiting the publication of report from the Garda Ombudsman into matters arising from the initial investigation into their daughter’s death. They say they expect the report to be published before Kate’s inquest begins on February 27.

Previously: Kate’s Honour

Kate Fitzgerald on Broadsheet

Pics: Columbia Hillen


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjnJlJh0Wn0

Jose Mujica – president of Uruguay since 2010 – is worth about the same as the 1987 VW Beetle he drives, lives a simple, austere life and urges other world leaders to do the same.

President Mujica has shunned the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife’s farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo. The president and his wife work the land themselves, growing flowers. This austere lifestyle – and the fact that Mujica donates about 90% of his monthly salary, equivalent to $12,000 (£7,500), to charity – has led him to be labelled the poorest president in the world.

Jose Mujica: The world’s ‘poorest’ president (BBC)

awesomer/bbc