Welcome to leadership. That asshole leader/manager guy who did that terrible thing? Maybe give him a break because he made a hard decision such as firing a good person because they just weren't working out, and while he gets blamed for it, it may have ultimately been the right choice. If you really care about what happens to Eddy, contact him outside of the office and talk to him. Give him honest feedback about the problems, but do it in a way that's positive, not negative, don't associate it directly to him, that sort of thing. And offer to be a contact for him if you can honestly do so. But if you're not willing/don't want to do any of those things, it's perfectly ok. Eddy isn't the first person to be rejected, he'll pick himself up off the floor or he's in the wrong business anyway. btw, what sort of software dev are you involved in?