A man in Dublin has been sentenced to four years in prison for setting a house in Dublin on fire in order to put “the fear of God” into a four-year-old boy who was sleeping inside.
The man a homeless drug addict named Robert Murphy, is understood to have been out on bail at the time of the arson attack in November of last year.
It is believed that a passer-by spotted the flames and smoke coming from the house in Kiltipper Drive, Tallaght late at night on November 27, 2013. It was later revealed that the boy and his mother were asleep inside. The unidentified passer-by told the court that he began to bang on the windows in order to wake them up.
It is believed that the front door of the house was on fire and the occupants had to run through the flames in order to make their escape. However their home was subsequently destroyed.
Robert Murphy (31) later admitted to gardai that he started the fire, he told members of the gardai that he did so because he wanted to put “the fear of God” into the four-year-old boy.
Murphy had claimed that the unnamed boy’s father had attacked him previously and theartened his own child. Mr Murphy was apparently on bail at the time incident, after he fired a shotgun in Blanchardstown a year before the arson attack. It is believed that man was injured in the shooting but he never made a complaint.
Today Judge Desmond Hogan sentenced Mr Murphy to nine years in prison for all offences but he suspended the final five years.