Man (44) jailed for arson of cars and house in which the owners were sleeping

Natasha Reid and Niamh O’Donoghue

A 44-year-old man has been jailed for three years and nine months for the arson of two cars and a house in which the owners were sleeping.

Seán Byrne of Cushlawn Way, Tallaght, who was intoxicated and said he couldn't remember the incident, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to damaging the two cars and the house by fire on October 20th, 2023.

He did not know the owners.

The court heard that gardaí were called to a car on fire in a driveway in Tyrconnell, Inchicore, at 3.15am on the morning in question. The owner woke to a loud bang, looked out his window and saw his car on fire.

A neighbour’s CCTV footage showed a man entering and exiting the car, and gardaí recognised Byrne from the footage.

Judge Orla Crowe was told that Byrne was seen getting into the first car for a few seconds before getting out, and that shortly after that, it went on fire.

It was unclear how he started the blaze. The other car then caught fire, and the front of the house sustained heat damage from the two fires.

The court heard that the cars, which belonged to a couple who lived in the house, were both written off. Their house insurance paid out more than €21,000 for heat damage to the front of the property.

The court heard that when gardaí came upon Byrne later, he was highly intoxicated and gave a false name. They seized two backpacks and a bicycle that he was seen using in the footage.

When he was sober, the gardaí found him pleasant and easy to deal with, and his condition had drastically improved since, the court heard.

He has more than 70 previous convictions.

Defence barrister, John Griffin BL, said that his client had no recollection of or explanation for the incident, which showed no planning or sophistication.

“It was a matter that went wrong,” he said. “It could have gone much more wrong.”

Counsel said that his client had suffered from drug and alcohol abuse for most of his life and used to steal food from shops and sell it to feed a heroin addiction.

He has spent a lot of his life in and out of prison.

“He does very well in prison. He comes out a very fresh, healthy man,” defence counsel said, explaining that Byrne had purposely gone into custody following this offence in order to come clean.

“Thankfully, nobody was hurt, be it because the people were alert or thanks to the fire brigade,” he said.

Judge Crowe described it as a very unusual case in which no accelerant was used.

She imposed a sentence of four and a half years, but suspended the final nine months for two years, provided Byrne engage with the probation service after his release.