Firebomb duo sentenced to four years
Two Co Cork men who took part in a firebomb attack on a house in Cork last year were each jailed for four years by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today.
The court heard that the two men drove a van loaded with six five gallon drums of petrol to a house at Littleisland and ignited the van with a lighted firelighter causing an explosion.
Jonathan O' Rourke (aged 24), of Willison Park, Blarney and Paul Mc Carthy (aged 22), whose father is a prison officer, of Assumption Terrace, Station Road, Blarney had pleaded guilty to damaging a van intending by the said damage to endanger the life of Mr Barry Sheehan at The Fairways, Littleisland, Cork on March 23 last year.
O' Rourke also pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of a pistol and 250 rounds of ammunition at Loughnane, Blarney, Co Cork on October 4, 2002.
The court heard that O' Rourke had taken part in the firebomb attack while on bail for the firearms offences and he was jailed for 18 months for the firearms offences backdated to March 23 last year when he was taken into custody. The court ordered the four-year sentence to begin when the 18-month sentence on O' Rourke has finished.
Detective Superintendent Tony Quilter told the court that as a result of a garda investigation into dissident republican activity, O' Rourke's home was searched on October 4, 2002.
Gardaí discovered a pistol, the ammunition, khaki trousers, combat jackets, republican paraphernalia, and a print-out of British Army bases in the north.
He said that in March 2004 gardaí carried out a surveillance operation on a van parked at Whitechurch in Co Cork and on a number of occasions O' Rourke and Mc Carthy were observed arriving at the van. The van was searched on March 23 and six five-gallon drums of petrol, firelighters and balaclavas were found in it.
Later that night, O' Rourke and Mc Carthy were observed driving the van to a housing estate in Littleisland. The van was reversed on the grass beside a house occupied by Mr Barry Sheehan who lived there with his girlfriend and child.
The van became bogged down in the grass and O' Rourke and Mc Carthy got out and Mc Carthy was observed throwing a lighted firelighter into it causing the vehicle to ignite. There was an explosion.
O' Rourke and Mc Carthy were immediately apprehended by the gardaí and Mc Carthy had the keys to a getaway car in his possession. Detective Supt Quilter said that the house was damaged by the fire but fortunately Mr Sheehan's girlfriend and child were not in the house that night.
He said that the damage could have been much worse but for the fact that Mr Sheehan's car was parked in the driveway, preventing the van from being reversed closer to the house.
Sentencing the men, Mr Justice Richard Johnson, presiding, said that they had "deliberately and systematically prepared the vehicle to be used as a bomb". The judge said that Mr Sheehan and his family were extremely lucky.
