Suspended sentence for FG-office petrol-bomber

CRIME SCENE A fire engine is pictured at the constituency office of former TD Michelle Mulherin after it was petrol bombed in January 2015. Pic: Corinne Beattie

A BALLINA man who petrol-bombed the constituency office of a former Fine Gael TD has received a four-year suspended prison sentence.
Last week’s sitting of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court heard that John Clarke of 187 Greenhills Estate, Ballina, was of a low risk of reoffending if he continues to follow medical advice and treatment.
The court had previously heard that the 41 year old was suffering from psychotic symptoms when he caused €23,184 worth of damage Michelle Mulherin’s office on Casement Street, Ballina, on January 27, 2015, by throwing a petrol bomb through the window.
The case came before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court last October, when Mr Clarke initially pleaded not guilty to the offence. His legal team argued that he was not in his right state of mind due to a mental illness and that the jury should find him not guilty by reason of insanity.
However, Mr Clarke changed his plea to guilty when Judge Rory McCabe said that based on the evidence he could not ask the jury to consider a verdict of guilty by reason of insanity.

Paranoid
The trial had heard that Mr Clarke lit a wine bottle filled with petrol and threw it through the constituency office at approximately 6.40pm on January 27, 2015. The office was empty at the time and nobody was injured, and Mr Clarke was quickly arrested later that evening after gardaí called to his home.
Detective Garda Pat Ruane said when he spoke to Mr Clarke he did not make sense and talked of how he was being poisoned and that the walls of his home were painted with drugs.
The defendant was admitted to the Adult Mental Health Hospital in Castlebar where he was detained until February 20, 2015, when he was released.
When interviewed again by gardaí, he said he believed his water was contaminated and he was paranoid at the time of the incident.
During Christmas 2014, Clarke attended up to four parties where he binged on alcohol and drugs. The parties could last for over two days. At one of them, Clarke consumed €100 worth of cocaine over a few hours, as well as amphetamines, such as mephedrone.
Psychiatric evidence given to the court stated that while Clarke suffered from a drug-induced psychosis at the time of the incident, he still showed psychotic symptoms when he had no access to drugs.
At last week’s sentencing, Diarmuid Connolly, counsel for Clarke said his client was apologetic for what happened and had written a letter to the victim to apologise. Mr Connolly said that although the building had been damaged, no harm had come to any individual, and the evidence showed that there was no clear intention on Clarke’s part to cause harm.
Mr Connolly added that the medical report showed that if Clarke follows the medical advice and treatment and abstains from alcohol and illicit drugs, his risk of reoffending was low to zero. Connolly said that Clarke’s actions were out of character, and he asked Judge McCabe to be lenient in sentencing.
Judge McCabe described the arson attack as disturbing and potentially life-threatening, but he accepted  Clarke’s conduct on the evening was out of character. He accepted that  Clarke’s remorse was genuine.
In applying the sentence, Judge McCabe said he did not believe an immediate custodial sentence was necessary, but he did think a suspended sentence with a lengthy period of suspension would be a deterrent.
He sentenced Clarke to four years’ imprisonment, suspending the sentence for six years. He ordered  Clarke remain under the supervision of the probation service for 12 months.