A JUDGE has questioned how a 28-year-old convicted arsonist who has a history of starting fires since he was teenager has not been diagnosed as a pyromaniac.
Judge Carroll Moran made his comments at Limerick Circuit Court yesterday where he jailed a man for four years after he admitted burning a number of garden sheds and a car causing in excess of €20,000 worth of damage.
Judge Moran ordered that the sentence run consecutive to a four-year sentence imposed at Nenagh Circuit Court last October for arson and criminal damage offences.
Darren Holland of Cliona Park Moyross, Limerick, pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to four counts of arson and one count of theft on separate dates in April, May and August 2009.
The offences related to the theft of a bicycle and the burning of three garden sheds and one car in the North Circular Road area of Limerick city causing €10,000 worth of damage.
Holland, who has 22 previous convictions, also pleaded guilty to three counts of arson on July 8th, 2010.
These offences related to the burning of garden sheds in houses in the Ennis Road area of Limerick causing €11,000 worth damage.
The court heard that Holland was jailed for four years at Nenagh Circuit Court last October for arson and criminal damage.
Evidence was given that he was on bail for the Nenagh offences when the Limerick crimes were committed.
Before imposing sentence yesterday, Judge Moran said the accused had a history of starting fires dating back to when he was 16 and this was set out in a psychiatric report.
He said these related to two incidents in the UK and one attempt by Holland to burn down his mother’s house when he was 16.
Judge Moran said he was particularly concerned by the fact that the most recent set of offences before the court were committed after the accused had pleaded guilty to the crimes committed in 2009.
He noted that Holland had a history of admissions to psychiatric hospitals, that he had been admitted on five occasions and that there was a record of three attempts at self-harm.
Judge Moran said it seemed “to defy common sense” that the psychiatric report found the accused was not a pyromaniac.
“I find beyond reasonable doubt that he has a dangerous and criminal propensity to start fires be it because of pyromania, drug addiction or other reasons,” the judge said.
Judge Moran said arson was one of the most serious offences in the calendar of crimes because of the catastrophic damage that can be caused to property and the grotesque and appalling injuries inflicted on people.
He jailed Holland for four years and ordered that the sentence run consecutive to the four-year jail term imposed in Nenagh last October.