Court quashes Dublin man’s manslaughter conviction over fatal arson

Fiona Magennis

A Dublin man serving an eight-year sentence for the unlawful killing of a man whose apartment he set on fire after a break-in has had his manslaughter conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal.

Dean Boland (37) was convicted of manslaughter following a 2018 incident in which he broke into a downstairs apartment in a Dublin residential property, stole a rucksack, and set the property ablaze.

The deceased, Ohari Viera, lived upstairs with two other men. All three evacuated safely when they discovered the fire downstairs.

The men were waiting outside when Mr Viera went back into the house for an unknown reason. He never returned, and others who tried to go into the property after him were prevented from doing so as the building became engulfed in smoke and flames.

The court found that Bolland committed “the unlawful and dangerous act” of arson, which could have had “fatal consequences for all three occupants of the upstairs building”.

In a written judgement delivered on Tuesday, Ms Justice Tara Burns noted that having escaped the burning building and reached safety, the deceased took the “ill-advised” step of re-entering the property several minutes after leaving.

Ms Justice Burns said the act of the deceased re-entering the house was “an independent and voluntary act” on his part, which was not brought about as a result of confusion, stress or panic, or a choice made to avoid a perceived greater danger.

She ruled that while the act of arson perpetrated by Dean Boland had “tragic consequences”, that act was not the cause of the deceased’s death.

She said the deceased’s death in the circumstances was not the “natural consequence of arson”.

The court held that while the deceased would not have died but for the fire which was started by the accused, the “ill-judged step” of returning to the fire “broke the chain of causation”.

Boland of Northwood, Santry was convicted in December 2022 by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury of the unlawful killing of Ohari Viera, damaging property by arson and burglary at Oaklands Terrace, Terenure, on August 21st, 2018.

He had pleaded not guilty to the offences and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Jailing Boland in March 2023, Judge Elma Sheahan said she would sentence the 37-year-old on the charge of manslaughter and set a headline term of 10 years.

Ms Justice Burns remanded Boland in custody to appear before Judge Sheahan on Friday, October 10th in relation to the two other charges.