GARDAÍ ARE INVESTIGATING after a threatening letter was posted to the family home of Defence Forces soldier Cathal Crotty.

Crotty (22), from Park Row Heights in Ardnacrusha, Co Clare, was given a fully suspended three-year sentence last month for the assault of Natasha O’Brien in Limerick on 22 May 2022.

Crotty boasted about the attack to friends on social media afterwards: “Two to put her down, two to put her out.”

The suspended sentence and comments from the sentencing judge Tom O’Donnell, as well as Natasha O’Brien’s disgust at the nature of the sentence, sparked national outrage and protests calling for legal reforms, more legal rights for victims of crime and sensitivity training for judges.

It has emerged that Gardaí are investigating the circumstances of a threatening letter sent to Crotty’s family residence on Wednesday, 3 July.

The letter, seen by this reporter, was addressed to Cathal Crotty’s father and had a Dublin postmark.

A garda spokesman said: “An Garda Síochána is aware of correspondence received at a domestic residence in Co Clare in July 2024.”

The spokesman added that “enquiries are ongoing”.

Last month, Limerick Circuit Court heard Crotty grabbed O’Brien by her hair and delivered six punches into her face and head. He continued punching O’Brien after she fell to the ground and was losing consciousness, the court heard.

O’Brien said she had “politely” asked Crotty to stop shouting homophobic slurs at people but he grabbed her and assaulted her.

Judge O’Donnell faced criticism for the manner in which he reasoned his decision not to impose an immediate jail sentence on Crotty.

The judge had asked O’Brien if she understood “the significance” of Crotty’s guilty plea, explaining that it had spared her having to be cross examined by Crotty’s lawyers if the case had gone to trial and had spared the court and Gardaí precious time and resources.

The judge also said he had “no doubt” Crotty’s career in the Defence Forces would be “over” had he jailed him.

Judge O’Donnell said he had to balance Crotty’s “cowardly” attack with mitigating factors including that Crotty pleaded guilty – albeit after he initially deflected blame on O’Brien and changed his story only after Gardaí showed him CCTV footage of the attack, and that Crotty had no previous convictions.

Natasha O’Brien told the judge that she had lost her job because she could not cope with the trauma of the attack; she said she had since returned to employment and was trying to move on with her life but that she felt lucky to be alive given the level of violence Crotty had used against her.

Crotty is now the subject of an internal Defence Forces disciplinary process which will determine his future in the army.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has said it is to appeal Crotty’s sentence on the grounds that it was too lenient.

A date for the appeal has yet to be scheduled.