A man who set fire to the Raheny Garda Station using petrol he took from the local church after an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting has been jailed for two years.
Joseph Egan, aged 58, of Gairdini Léin, Harmonstown told gardai when he was questioned about his culpability. He later pleaded guilty to arson and criminal damage to Raheny Garda Station on August 12, 2003.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court also heard that Egan had set fire to the building as a result of a grievance he had against a particular garda based at the Raheny Station who, at the time, had been suspended over allegations of possessing child pornography.
Detective Sergeant Paul Scott told prosecuting counsel, Ms Aileen Donnelly BL, that two gardai were on duty when Egan set fire to it. Garda Gerard Howling heard an explosion around 10:35 pm and saw thick fumes coming from the rear side of the building.
He was apprehended by gardai as he tried to run from the scene and appeared to have little memory of the incident when questioned but agreed he must have done it, "if it's burned."
Investigations conducted while he was in hospital revealed that a few days earlier he had proclaimed his intent to set fire to the station.
On the evening of the incident he arrived at an AA meeting at the local church with drink taken and left early. He then went to a store area in the church from where he took petrol meant for the church's land mower. He also took an empty bottle of wine, later identified as that thrown into the Station.
Child pornography was an issue that "deeply troubled" Egan and he had been angry with a garda who had been suspended from the station over alleged involvement in such a crime.
At the time of the incident he was also battling with a longtime addiction to alcohol. The incident, she said, appears to have shocked Egan into the realisation that his behaviour "was reprehensible".
The court was told Egan has been separated from his wife and four children for the past seven years and has since lived with his now 80-year-old mother and a brother in his sixties. He was currently making a genuine effort to reform and rehabilitate himself