Sentencing adjourned for Cork city arson case

The jury sworn in for a case against a young man accused of arson of a house on Bakers Road in Cork was directed by the trial judge to find him not guilty of the charge.

This followed legal argument in the absence of the jury at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Helen Boyle said to the jury when they were brought back to court, “In your absence there has been legal argument. I am directing you to find him not guilty by direction.

“Effectively, there is no evidence on which to prosecute him.” 

20-year-old Warren Forde of Killala Gardens, Knocknaheeny, Cork, was acquitted on the charge of arson at Rosewood Drive, Bakers Road, Cork, on July 8, 2024.

The defence submission was that a very brief video recording of a man running towards a house and throwing a lighting bottle against the property which then flamed up, did not identify the person who did it.