A man was sentenced to 16 months in prison for setting a house on fire while a wife and her two little children were inside, reports RTE.
David Fannin, 29, shattered a back window before igniting the fire, injuring one of the kids with broken glass as they attempted to flee.
Fannin, who lived on Edenmore Avenue in Coolock, Dublin, informed gardaà that another individual, to whom he owed money, had given him the order to commit arson. The court heard that the wounded party’s ex-partner is his co-accused, who has since left the country.
Judge Martin Nolan made the following observation at the sentencing hearing: “This family could have been incinerated if things had gone wrong,” reports RTE.
A man was sentenced to 16 months in prison for setting a house on fire while a wife and her two little children were inside.
David Fannin, 29, shattered a back window before igniting the fire, injuring one of the kids with broken glass as they attempted to flee, reports RTE.
Fannin, who lived on Edenmore Avenue in Coolock, Dublin, informed gardaà that another individual, to whom he owed money, had given him the order to commit arson. The court heard that the wounded party’s ex-partner is his co-accused, who has since left the country.
Judge Martin Nolan made the following observation at the sentencing hearing: “This family could have been incinerated if things had gone wrong,” reports RTE.
The court stated that although Fannin “knew what he was doing was wrong,” there was “some level of coercion” involved in his illegal activity that evening.
“Even though he has problems, he must have known what he was doing was very dangerous for occupants of the house,” stated the court, reports RTE.
Judge Nolan took notice of the psychiatric report’s findings, Fannin’s unique situation, and the mitigating. He stated that “there must be some level of punishment for what he did” and that the court could not grant the defense’s request for a suspended sentence.
Judge Nolan sentenced him to four years in jail, with the last thirty-two months suspended under stringent guidelines, reports RTE.
“I’ve no doubt he was the lesser of the two parties, but he must suffer some imprisonment for what he did. He must have known what he did was wrong,” the judge said.
The Garda The mother, who was at home with her 18-month-old and four-and-a-half-year-old children, called gardaà to report that a man had broken a window at the rear of her home, according to what Seán Clyde previously told the court. Then another man started hammering at the patio doors, reports RTE.
Fearfully, she fled from the kitchen, locked herself in a bedroom upstairs, and called the emergency services. She didn’t know who the first man was, but she recognised her ex-partner as the second.
She later claimed that her car was ablaze in her driveway and that the porch in front of her house was ablaze. The fire was out of control for the gardaÃ’s patrol fire extinguishers when they arrived, reports RTE.
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