Former pupil sets fire to school dressed as The Joker
A former pupil of a Clondalkin secondary school, who dressed up as the Batman character The Joker and set fire to the building, causing more than €1m worth of damage, has been given 240 hours community service in lieu of a two-year jail sentence.
Christopher Clancy (aged 19) of Cherrywood Grove in Clondalkin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to arson at Coláiste Chillian on the Old Nangor Road on May 10, 2009.
Clancy told gardaí when he was arrested at the scene that he burnt the school down “because it is run by hypocrites and I didn’t like the way they treated my friends”.
Garda Liam Ganny told Mr Colm O’Briain BL, prosecuting, that Clancy, who had left the school the previous November, filled six large jerry cans with petrol and cut his way through a wire mesh fence to access the school grounds.
He smashed in a glass door and proceeded to spill the contents of one can along the corridor. He the lit the petrol and escaped from the school.
When gardaí arrived at the scene they noticed a man dressed “in a purple suit, with green hair, a white face and red painted lips”.
“He was dressed up as The Joker from Batman,” said Gda Ganny. “He then told us to go around the corner and we will see what he had done.”
Clancy had video recorded the burning building on his mobile phone and had planned to send the video clip to his friends.
He told gardaí he had left the school five months previous to the arson attack and “that’s when I planned the attack”.
He purchased the jerry cans over a five-week period from Atlantic Homecare and hid them in the bushes near the school. He bought 100 litres of petrol from a nearby petrol station.
He told gardaí “I am glad I did it because the people will realise they can’t treat students as sub-human.”
The school was closed down for five days following the fire and Leaving Certificate students had to be accommodated at another school to sit their exams.
Mr Seamus Clarke BL, defending said: “The fire was contained to the back of the school and Mr Clancy did not attempt to flee the scene.”
“He was 17 at the time of the offence and is an introspective and reserved person. He left school to attend Youth Reach,” said Mr Clarke.
Judge Patricia Ryan said the offence “seems to be a one-off incident” and ordered that the community service work be carried out within nine months.
