Jury finds man guilty of arson

A jury took two and a half hours today to return a guilty verdict in the case against a man accused of setting fire to a house of apartments where a young woman died three years ago.

The jury of eight men and four women gave their 10-2 majority decision after a week of evidence in the case against Oliver Walsh, 47, of St. John’s Terrace, Roman Street, Cork, on the one charge of committing arson contrary to the Criminal Damage Act of 1991 at Langford Row, Summerhill South, Cork, on April 9 2002.

27-year-old Karen Quinlivan from Galway City was staying at an apartment at Langford Row, Summerhill South, Cork, that weekend and she died as a result of the injuries she suffered in the lunchtime fire.

Judge Sean O’Donnabhain thanked the jury and he agreed to a defence application to have a psychiatric report prepared on Walsh in advance of sentencing in two months time.

Walsh was remanded in custody. The accused said in the witness box during the case, “I would not have caused a fire intentionally to harm anyone or harm myself. I would not have done something like that.”

However, evidence was presented from interviews he had with the gardaí at various stages after the fire where he suggested that he might have been responsible.

Asked how the fire could have started, Walsh replied in one interview: “The only reason I could give is it was an old house and the safety standards were not the best and my smoking and carelessness with outing the cigarette may have caught something and started the fire.”

Later he said: “All I can say is I was smoking and could have let the cigarette fall or something like that could have happened.”

In the witness box, Walsh admitted that he made several nuisance 999 calls in the two hours before the fire.

Walsh said: “It was just a fixation I had. A guard would have a lot of authority. Going back to my young days as well, maybe making a career, maybe trying to get into the guards. When I would take drink I’d think of the power the guards would have and maybe I would have that power as well, I

would think that, and that they were not doing their job the way they should.”

Under cross-examination Walsh denied the suggestion that he was deliberately building up a picture of being drunk to such an extent that he got blackouts and could not be responsible for anything he did that day.

“For whatever reason, you deliberately started this fire,” prosecution barrister Pearse Sreenan BL said towards the close of his cross-examination.

Walsh denied this.