A man who carried out an arson attack on the constituency office of the former Fine Gael TD Michelle Mulherin has been given a four-year suspended prison sentence.
John Clarke (41), of Greenhills Estate, Ballina, had pleaded guilty at an earlier sitting of the Circuit Criminal Court to throwing a petrol bomb through the window of the office at John Street, Ballina, on January 27th, 2015.
At a sentencing hearing on Tuesday in Castlebar before Judge Rory MacCabe, Diarmuid Connolly, counsel for Clarke, asked for a non-custodial sentence.
‘Floridly psychotic’
He said medical evidence previously provided to the court indicated that at the time the offence was committed, his client was “floridly psychotic”.
Mr Connolly said the defendant had written a letter of apology to Ms Mulherin, now a Senator after losing her Dáil seat last year, in which he made clear that at no point were his actions intended as a personal attack.
Counsel added that the defendant had taken steps to ensure there was nobody on the premises at the time so that no physical harm could come to anyone.
Mr Connolly submitted that any concerns the court might have about what might happen in the future could be allayed by reports from medical practitioners. These suggest that if the defendant continues with medication, he is at low risk or no risk of reoffending, he said.
Clarke was “well got” within the community, has degrees in science of an environmental nature and is involved in what is known as the Ballina Community Garden Project, Mr Connolly said.
‘Very disturbing’
Judge MacCabe described the incident as “very disturbing” and “potentially life-threatening”.
However, he said that having studied extensive medical reports, it was his opinion that the defendant carried a low degree of moral culpability for his conduct and is at a low risk of reoffending, provided he complies with medication requirements and abstains from drugs or alcohol.
Judge MacCabe imposed a four-year prison sentence, suspended for six years, and placed the defendant under continued supervision by the Probation Service for a year.