Posted by Margaret Loftus’s 13-year struggle exposes how institutional delay compounds the trauma of domestic violence victims
The assault in question took place on October 25, 2012, when garda Margaret Loftus was viciously attacked by her husband, garda Trevor Bolger.
It occurred in Margaret’s childhood bedroom in Co Mayo when the couple and their two children were visiting for a family occasion.
More than 13 years later, Bolger was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, to be suspended for three months, for assaulting his wife.
Domestic violence, it is now accepted, is far more prevalent than ever before officially recorded. It is also the case that An Garda Síochána now treat the crime with a seriousness that was rarely applied up until recent years.
Who Watches the Watchers? 