Two boys who desecrated the crypt of an 800-year-old church and destroyed nearly 70 coffins in a search for buried treasure have been placed under probation for three years.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the younger of the boys played football with the head of a baby corpse from a coffin marked "E. Hall, died 1838 aged 4 months". They broke into the crypt of St Michan's Church, Dublin, after reading an article in the English-published News of the World newspaper about possible treasures buried on the church grounds. One of the boys, aged 15, pleaded guilty to burglary and to two counts of criminal damage of a vault and coffins between July 6th and July 8th, 1996. His 17-year-old brother pleaded guilty to criminal damage of the church's vault. The two cannot be named by direction of Judge Michael White. A co-accused of the two, Anthony Dillon, of Lindor House, Thomas Street, was sentenced to six years' detention last November by the then Judge Cyril Kelly for setting fire to the crypt and destroying nearly 70 coffins.
Det Garda Tony Whelan told Mr Fergal Foley, prosecuting, they believed that gold and other valuables were buried in ancient coffins held in the vaults of the church after they read the News of the World story.
Dillon and the younger of the two brothers broke into a storage building on the grounds of the church known as the Widow's Lodge. They found broom handles, rags and inflammable liquid with which to make torches, then smashed the sealed entrance to one of the church's vaults using a rock. Inside there were seven crypts, each containing the remains of a number of people. Most of the coffins had been there for between 400 and 800 years. In total there were between 60 and 70 coffins with a number of buried urns, which also contained remains.
Det Garda Whelan said a fire was set at the back of the vault and gardai believed it may have burnt for a day before it was discovered. Water damage from attempts to put out the fire also caused significant damage. Only six coffins remained intact when the fire was put out. The older of the brothers had acted as a lookout. There was evidence that he had entered the vault at one point but gardai did not believe he was as strongly involved as the other two.
The court heard defence submissions that the two accused came from an extremely dysfunctional family. Their mother suffered from psychiatric problems and had fled to England with her children to escape her abusive husband. The family stayed in bed and breakfast accommodation in Oxfordshire, and there was some evidence that children in the family were the victims of sexual abuse from another partner of their mother. She has since abandoned her family and is living in a caravan in Co Kildare.
The court heard from a school principal and a social worker who said that the boys have made excellent progress since the offences in St Michan's. They had been model students and a detention or jail sentence might lead to a regression in their progress.
The Rev David Pierpoint, Canon of St Michan's, said that he and his parishoners were not looking for revenge, and did not want the boys to be treated harshly. The damage to the church was immeasurable and had caused considerable distress to the members of a small inner city parish.
Judge Michael White told the boys that under normal circumstances they would be sent to detention or prison. They came from a culture that had great respect for the dead, and the court believed that they appreciated that.