Five-year sentence for man who burned down pub 'for a laugh'

A man who caused almost €4m of damage when he burned down a pub "for a laugh" while drunk has been given a five-year suspended sentence by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Gaven Kinsella (aged 21), of Templeview Way, Clare Hall, Baldoyle, a former lounge boy at Graingers pub and B&B in Baldoyle, pleaded guilty to recklessly damaging it by fire on January 10, 2002.

Judge Joseph Matthews expressed his "deep distress" to the owner of the pub, Mark Grainger, and said the incident was "nothing less than a catastrophe" for him and his family.

He said sending Kinsella to prison would not help the publican’s health, economic situation or family and as a judge there was nothing he could do to ease the family’s situation.

Mr Grainger told Judge Mathews that his health has suffered greatly as a result of the stress he has suffered. He said he and his family had been destroyed by "one moment of madness".

He said his pub is up and running again but he was out of pocket to the tune of €1m and no longer had the will to run the business he spent over 40 years building. "I’m completely worn down. I am the loser here. I am the one who has to carry the can," he said.

The court earlier heard Kinsella put a match to a black plastic bag in a wheelie bin outside the pub when he was on his way home drunk.

He told gardaií he did it "for a laugh" and because he was "locked and being a fool".

The lounge area, the B&B and the adjacent shop, all Mr Granger’s property, were completely destroyed as a result. Seven people who were staying there managed to escape after being alerted by the fire alarm.

Detective garda Paul O’Donohue said the damage totalled €3,809,214. Kinsella, who went home after lighting the match, confessed to gardaí the following evening after hearing about the fire from a friend and reading about in an evening newspaper.

Judge Matthews said Kinsella had met the case well and shown courage by turning himself in but could not walk away from the gravity of his reckless crime.

Mr Grainger, who suffered a similar arson on his public house in 1992, earlier told the court he had been "to hell and back " at the time of this second fire but his biggest concern when he arrived at the scene was the welfare of the people staying in the B&B.

He said: "I stood there in the street, seeing my business that took me over 40 years to build, burn to the ground. I cannot describe in words the feelings of despair and lost hope I experienced that night."

Judge Matthews offered Mr Grainger his utmost sympathy and wished him the best of luck in the future. He described him as a man of "awesome courage and tenacity".

Kinsella is undergoing a drug treatment program in Coolmine Lodge after Judge Mathews gave him the opportunity to straighten out his addiction before sentence. He ordered Kinsella to continue the programme.

Kinsella’s mother has borrowed €10,000 to give to Mr Grainger which Judge Matthews described as a "paltry sum" in comparison to the loss incurred but which was offered in good faith as a gesture of remorse.