Men admit firebomb attack on house

Two men today pleaded guilty to charges in connection with a fire bomb attack on a house in Co Cork.

At the Special Criminal Court, Anthony Crowley, 21, from Stoneview in Blarney and Alan Hickey, 20, from Ballygibbon in Blarney pleaded guilty to criminal damage of a van and endangering the life of a self-employed businessman at his home in Little Island on March 23, 2004.

On that date, a van loaded with with six five gallon drums of petrol was driven to the house of Barry Sheehan in the Fairway estate in Little Island.

Garda detectives, who were mounting a surveillance operation, moved in on the van but it burst into flames outside the house.

The sole occupant of the house at the time was not injured in the attack.

Both Crowley and Hickey are to be sentenced at the Special Criminal Court on February 24.

The two men also pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to charges in connection with an arms find in October 2002.

Crowley pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of an AK47 assault rifle, a pistol, a sawn-off shotgun, 119 shotgun cartridges and 126 rounds of ammunition at his home in Blarney in 2002, while Hickey admitted withholding information from the gardai under the Offences Against the State Act.