Man gets 5 years for setting fire to student

A law graduate has been sentenced for five years in prison with 18 months suspended for setting fire to a medical student in a Galway nightclub three years ago.

Matthew Sheridan, aged 24, from Cabinteely, Dublin, who was a second year medical student at NUIG at the time, was attending a Halloween fancy dress party at Halo night-club at Upper Abbeygate St, Galway, on October 31, 2012, when the accused, Brian Keane, aged 23, from Grange, Templemore Road, Thurles, Co Tipperary, came up behind him on the dance floor, took out his lighter and set fire to Mr Sheridan’s costume for no apparent reason.

Mr Sheridan’s homemade sheep costume, which he had made by using highly flammable glue to stick cotton wool to a T-shirt and pants, burst into flames instantaneously.