Fire victim’s son pleads with arsonist to give himself up

The son of an elderly man killed in an arson attack on the family home has appealed directly to the arsonist to give himself up.

On RTÉ’s Crimecall last night, Tomás Crowe spoke for the first time of the horror of seeing his father, Michael, disappear in the burning house as flames shot up towards him.

He described the last time he saw his father alive after being awoken by a loud noise in the early hours of the morning on October 4, 2009.

“Suddenly around 6 o’clock, there is this almighty bang,” he said. “I rushed out from the back bedroom and I got to the first step and this power just came up the stairs, it was incredible, and these flames shot up.

“Suddenly he was there, then there was this bang and then he was gone.”

While Tomás and his mother Betty escaped the burning house, Michael didn’t manage to get out and died of his injuries.

His son said on Crimecall that he is haunted by the horrific death of his 81-year-old father in their home in Páirc Mhuire Estate in Newbridge, Co Kildare.

“It never leaves me. It has changed my life completely,” he said.

“What we try to do is get on with our lives as best we can but this hangs over us. This will not leave us.”

Gardaí have treated the case as a murder investigation and have made repeated appeals for witnesses to come forward with any information.

Tomás appealed directly to the person who started the fire to give themselves up.

“My father is an innocent man. Our family is an innocent family,” he said.

“We’ve done nothing wrong to you, (to) anyone. Surely you must see that. You have to do the right thing.”

Michael’s brother, Tom, also joined the appeal to anyone with any information about the eight-year-old case to come forward to the authorities.

“I’d love to say to anyone who has any information on what developed that night or what happened to come forward to the gardaí,” he said. “It would mean a great lot to our family.”

Gardaí in Newbridge suspect the fire was started deliberately and are appealing for information.

The family were also awoken at 2am that morning as a window at the front of the house was smashed by a brick.

Since the incident, An Garda Síochána have taken nearly 700 statements, carried out hundreds of separate lines of inquiry in the live and ongoing investigation.

“We would appeal in particular to anyone who may have been in or around Páirc Muire estate on the morning of Sunday, October 4, 2009 between 2am and 6am to contact us”, said Inspector Mel Smyth.

“All information will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and we urge anyone who has any information even if they believe it to be insignificant or trivial to get in contact with us at Newbridge Garda Station at 045 440180.”