At about 9.55am, the prison van containing the three teenagers convicted in connection with an attack that turned two small children into human fireballs, pulled into Limerick Circuit Court, writes Kathy Sheridan.
There were no vengeful mobs to greet them, no swarming media pack, just a handful of journalists from national and local outlets and a couple of women in the yard shouting advice at the van's occupants: "Cover your heads, lads - the place is surrounded".
The youngest of the boys, 17-year-old Robert Sheehan, emerged first, making a half-hearted attempt to cover his head. A court decision has ordained that he may be named but not photographed.
Jonathan O'Donoghue and John Mitchell, both 18, ensured that their heads were completely covered as they walked down the side of the old court building. By now, the women in the yard were busying themselves taking down phone numbers being shouted by remaining prisoners in the van.
Sheila Murray, the mother of Gavin and Milly Murray, arrived separately from the children's father, Niall McNamara, and they remained separate inside. In a half-empty courtroom shortly after noon, the sentencing hearing began with a request from State counsel John O'Sullivan, that the names of the injured children be amended to Philomena "Milly" Murray McNamara and Gavin Murray McNamara, followed by an expression of appreciation of the health and emergency services which had been requested by Niall McNamara.
This was duly agreed.
Describing the case before him, Judge Carroll Moran noted that John Mitchell's involvement was "particularly tragic", given that he was not involved in the original confrontation with Ms Murray, and that Robert Sheehan's offence "was one of inaction rather than action".
Before getting around to the aggravating factors, he listed the mitigating elements, in particular the fact that guilty pleas were entered at an early stage, to which he attached "major significance". When he stated that the Garda "accepted that the accused did not know that the children were in the car . . . and that their guilt was based on recklessness rather than deliberate intent", loud sighs rose from the public gallery.
By the time he referred to Insp Nolan's acceptance that the three were "genuinely remorseful", a highly agitated Niall McNamara was being escorted from the court, audibly calling a female garda a "bitch". (He was arrested but later released without charge).
Despite the mitigating factors, Judge Moran went on to say nonetheless, that "the gratuitous nature of this offence is appalling . . . Throwing petrol bombs around is bad enough but to do so for such a trifling reason as being refused a lift elevates the offence to one of anarchic nihilism. The casual nature of this offence strikes us all . . ."
As the sentences were read out, a visibly upset John Mitchell lowered his head into his heads. Five years of his young life (including two suspended), his undoubted talent withering away in prison.
A composed Jonathan O'Donoghue held up six fingers to indicate to his confused family that his sentence added up to six years. Robert Sheehan will be out in two, the leniency an acknowledgment, said the judge "of his efforts to save the child . . ." Outside, Sheila Murray walked quickly to a car and was gone, back to her terribly wounded children and a life that can never be the same again.