Jail for homeless man who set fire to woman’s Rathmines flat

A homeless man who set fire to an acquaintance’s flat and caused more than €29,000 damage has been jailed for six years, with 18 months suspended.

Alan Jackson (32), who is of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to criminal damage by arson at Rathmines Avenue, Rathmines, Dublin, on August 21st, 2017.

Judge Martina Baxter sentenced him to six years imprisonment, but suspended the final 18 months for a period of 18 months provided he engage with the Probation Services upon his release.

Garda Barry Bolton told Garret Baker BL, prosecuting, that the injured party, Patricia Martin, knew Jackson for a number of years prior to the offence and had helped him out by giving him food and letting him use her shower.

Following the arson, she and her daughter had to move out of their home of 17 years. The court heard she had never been in a romantic relationship with Jackson.

Garda Bolton said Ms Martin received a phone call from Jackson after 5.30pm on the evening, during which he became increasingly aggressive and threatened to burn her flat down.

After meeting Jackson and once again being threatened by him, she arranged that she and her daughter would stay in a friend’s home that night.

Garda Bolton said that he went to the flat in response to a call about a blaze and encountered Jackson exiting the front door wielding a large wooden stick that was burning on top.

Pepper spray

The garda deployed his pepper spray when Jackson failed to drop the stick.

In interview after his arrest, Jackson claimed he had been in a relationship with Ms Martin and admitted setting fire to her clothes in the bedroom. He said the fire went up too quickly and he was unable to put out the flames with the stick he had brought with him.

He told gardaí­ this stick was for his own protection as he was fighting with people from the flats.

Garda Bolton told Mr Baker that Jackson wrote the injured party a letter while in prison, saying that he never intended to hurt her or her daughter.

He wrote that he just wanted to burn a few of her clothes to “get back” at her and said he still loved her.

In a victim impact statement handed into court, Ms Martin revealed she suffered a €5,000 loss of personal belongings and that she felt anxiety, stress and weariness from what happened.

She said she and her daughter were forced out of their home and into emergency accommodation. She added that she had concerns about meeting Jackson in future.

Jackson has 50 previous convictions, including convictions for burglary, threats to kill, possessing stolen property, attempted robbery and robbery. He received a four year suspended sentence for a robbery offence a short time prior to committing this arson.

Garda Bolton agreed with John Moher BL, defending, that there were no signs of forced entry into the flat. He further accepted that Jackson had a history of drug and alcohol abuse and had been in custody since his arrest.

Mr Moher submitted that his client had had periods of employment but his working life was overtaken by addiction to cannabis and alcohol in his teenage years.

Judge Baxter said the mitigating circumstances in the case were Jackson’s early plea of guilty, his troubled family background, his history of drug addiction and his remorse.

She said the tragic aspect of the case was that the person who had helped Jackson had been made to suffer through a horrific experience for doing so.

Judge Baxter backdated the sentence to August 23rd, 2017, the day in which he went into custody.