A Defence Forces chaplain who was repeatedly stabbed by a teenage boy motivated by “a radicalised Islamic mindset” has told him he forgives him, with the priest and his attacker later embracing in the courtroom.
Delivering an emotional victim impact statement on Thursday, Father Paul Murphy told the sentencing judge: “My only desire is that the young man before you would learn to see the error of his ways and, when the time comes, return to society to make a positive contribution to the world as a wholesome, happy, and loving person”.
Fr Murphy said if it wasn’t him that night it would have been someone else and he was convinced, “without a shadow of a doubt”, that he was “the right person, in the right place, at the right time”. He told the court: “Out of all the members of our Defence Forces, I was best placed to take the knife.”
He added: “I thank God every single day that the knife tore through my skin, and not through the body of one of my comrades. I consider it an honour and a privilege to carry those scars until my dying day”.
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He said “heaven wasn’t ready for me that night”.
Turning to the 17-year-old boy in the dock as he read his statement, Fr Murphy, a native of Waterford City, said that he was “in the business of forgiveness” and offered “the young man standing accused before me, the forgiveness that will hopefully help you to become a better person. I believe you are 17 now so you will hopefully have another 80 years of living on this earth”.
“My hope and prayer is that you will use whatever resources are put at your disposal, in prison or beyond, to learn a better way of living and that you will use your energy and your talents to make our world a better place for all people to live. Life is for living and for loving, and, I promise you, your life will find its ultimate joy when you live honourable and love generously,” continued the priest.
At this point, the teenage boy, who had his parents sitting near him, interrupted Fr Murphy and said aloud: “I’m sorry”. The pair were seen to embrace after today’s sentence hearing.
The boy appeared at the Central Criminal Court on Thursday for his sentence hearing, having pleaded guilty last February to the attempted murder of Fr Murphy (52) at Dún Uí Mhaoilíosa, Renmore Barracks in Galway on August 15th, 2024. The defendant was 16 at the time of the attack and cannot be identified due to his age.
The victim, a popular chaplain with the 1st Infantry Battalion, suffered multiple stab wounds in the attack while he sat in his car. He was treated for his injuries at University Hospital Galway.
The court was told the boy had “lunged” at the priest with a hunting knife and stabbed him repeatedly. The priest suffered “multiple severe lacerations” to both his arms and there were seven wounds in total.
The court heard that the car got 20 metres inside the gate of the barracks but as the vehicle moved, the teenager moved with it while trying to stab Fr Murphy.
The boy told gardaí when arrested: “I did it to protest the Irish Defence Forces and their work in Mali and all the stuff for Islam”, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
The sentencing hearing also heard it was a “totally indiscriminate attack” and it could have been any member of the Defence Forces.
Det Sgt Paul McNulty agreed with Michael Delaney SC, prosecuting, that when gardaí seized the boy’s laptop, iPad and phone and got production orders for his email and social media accounts.
They found “a lot of the content was suggestive of a radicalised Islamic mindset” and supportive of the Islamic State.
Items seized by detectives in the boy’s bedroom included a poster with Arabic writing saying “God is great”, the Islamic state flag and sketches depicting beheadings.
The youth had confirmed to gardaí he had “reverted” to Islamic faith at 15 years of age and had writings in a notebook of Islamic prayers and how to be a devout Muslim. The boy also regularly attended Friday prayers at a mosque.
The defence barrister said the boy, who is on the “autism spectrum”, was vulnerable to the material he found on the internet which led to increasing radicalisation and a poisoning of his belief system. He said it ultimately led to his catastrophic and misconceived attempt to seek some sort of revenge on the Irish Defence Forces for the misconceived conclusion he had arrived at about Mali, which was inspired by others.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott remanded the boy to Oberstown Detention Centre until April 29th, when he will be sentenced.
