Corkmen to face attempted firebombing charges

Four Co Cork men were charged at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today in connection with the attempted firebombing of a house in Cork last March.

They are Anthony Crowley, aged 21, of Stone View, Blarney; Alan Hickey, aged 20, of Ballygibbon, Blarney; Jonathan O'Rourke, aged 23, of Willison Park, Blarney and Paul McCarthy, aged 22, of Assumption Terrace, Station Road, Blarney.

They were each charged with damaging a house belonging to Mr Barry Sheehan at The Fairways, Little Island, Cork on March 23 last; damaging a vehicle belonging to Mr Sheehan; damaging a van intending by the said damage to endanger Mr Sheehan's life; having petrol intending to use it to damage Mr Sheehan's house and having petrol intending to damage property in a way which was likely to endanger Mr Sheehan's life.

After the men were charged, O’Rourke and McCarthy were each arraigned on a charge of damaging a van intending by the said damage to endanger Mr Sheehan’s life at The Fairways, Little Island, Cork on March 23 last.

Both men pleaded guilty and were remanded for sentencing on January 12 next year.

State counsel Mr John Edwards SC told the court that the trial of Crowley and Hickey would last up to three weeks. Mr Justice Richard Johnson, presiding, fixed the trial of Hickey and Crowley for October 4 next year.

Last June, Crowley and O’Rourke pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of guns and ammunition in Blarney in October 2002 and Hickey admitted withholding information from the gardaí.

O’Rourke will be sentenced for the firearms offences in January and Hickey and Crowley will be sentenced at the end of their trial next year.