Arsonist who left glasses at scene should not have gone to Specsavers

IT was a case of “should not have gone to Specsavers” for a man who was traced after he left his glasses at the scene of a fire he set in a west Cork night club.

Cork District Court has heard how Stephen Tobin, aged 35, had a grudge against someone at O’Riada’s nightclub in Masseytown, Macroom, and climbed on to the roof, broke his way in by pulling off tiles and then set fire to the dance-floor.

The fire caused €500,000 in damage.

Detective Garda Tom O’Sullivan said a sports bag was found in a yard at the nightclub in which a number of empty plastic containers and a pair of glasses and a case from Specsavers were found.

The detective went to Specsavers to see if the owner could be traced, as this was the only evidence linking the perpetrator to the crime. On analysis it turned out the prescription glasses were for a distinct type of stigmatitis in both eyes and through the opticians’ records the owner was identified as Stephen Tobin.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin imposed a four-year jail sentence on Tobin but suspended the last two-and-a-half years.

“You pleaded guilty to arson. The level of premeditation and preparedness was extraordinary, getting up on the roof, taking off of slates, bringing a bag, all because you had some kind of grudge against someone in O’Riada’s.

“But this was not just throwing something in through a window. There was a level of methodology which puts it into a much more serious category.

“You have no pyromaniac tendencies, you were not a fire-starting risk previously or in the future. You did this to cause damage rather than out of any fascination with fires,” the judge said.

While the defendant had previous criminal convictions, defence senior counsel Tim O’Leary said the arson could be taken as a one-off. Mr O’Leary said Tobin had been remorseful to anyone affected by this.

Det Gda O’Sullivan said O’Riada’s was covered by insurance but had yet to be paid anything by the insurance company. He said the conclusion of the sentencing could help in that regard.

Tobin was originally from Uam Var estate, Bishopstown, Cork, but had been living in Macroom for a year.