Woman who attempted to kill her family is allowed home

A Judge today heeded the pleas of a Clare man who begged him not to send his wife to jail for trying to murder him and their three children.

The 28 year-old mother, who worked as a care assistant at the time, had set fire to the family home by igniting a can of petrol under the stairs in the early hours of September 25, 2005.

Her husband and children have since forgiven her and she is now living back in the family home with the support of the local mental health services.

The husband held her hand and comforted the woman as she sobbed throughout the sentencing hearing.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had pleaded guilty to four charges of attempted murder and two other charges relating to the same event; arson, and endangerment.

Mr Justice Paul Carney, at the Central Criminal Court, imposed five suspended life sentences for four attempted murder charges and one arson charge. He suspended all five sentences on the basis that she "obey all medical and psychiatric treatment."

When the husband took to the witness box, he said he had "absolutely" forgiven his wife who was ill at the time she set fire to the house.

He broke down as he said: "What we've been through in the last few years I'd hate to see anyone else going through."

"We've come out the other side of it. We've come out a million times stronger."

He said his wife had been back living in the family home since May 2006.

He admitted they had been having relationship difficulties in the months leading up to the fire and that he now realises "communication is the most important" thing in a relationship.

"I've learnt what I wasn't doing three years ago."

He said he was more preoccupied with work than his family at the time and that asking someone: " 'Hi, how are you doing?' can make all the difference."

He said that his wife had been unwell and neglecting the family for some time before she tried to kill them. "I actually was getting phone calls from the school because (the accused) hadn't picked up the children," he explained.

Asked by defence counsel, Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, whether he wanted his wife to return home, he replied: "Absolutely."

He also said he is now very aware of "small minor" warning signs which he pays attention to and that there were "about a half dozen numbers" he could call if he noticed anything wrong.

His victim impact statement, read out by prosecution counsel, Mr Edward Comyn SC, said: "Over the last few years, I have learnt the most important thing in life is to communicate. Two years ago I was concerned about work and everything else except for family."

He also described having to watch his wife “crumble” before his eyes.

“No one could ever know what heart-ache she suffered at this time,” he said.

He said that before his wife returned to their home in May 2006, the children were confused why she had been staying in their grandmother’s house instead of with them. He said they were “just happy” to be with her again. “We’ve had to rebuild our life,” he explained.

Referring to the prospect of his wife getting a life sentence, he said that his wife already had a life sentence ahead and added: “If you feel a custodial sentence is justice, then so be it. But it’s also being handed to me and our children.”

Mr Justice Paul Carney also imposed a 5 year suspended sentence in relation to the sixth charge of endangerment.

All of the six sentences are to run concurrently and she was released on her bond of €1,000 and bound to keep the peace.

He said that while "the accused is before the court on the basis of being fully criminally responsible, mental factors may be taken into account in mitigation."

The conditions of the suspended sentence mean she must continue to co-operate fully with local mental health services who have been helping her since the time of the offence.

The Judge said: "I'm concerned to structure a sentence which will in the first instance, protect society; in the second, protect the family of the accused; and the third, facilitate her rehabilitation."

However, Mr Justice Carney warned the woman that he had recently put another man with a similar history back into prison after he failed to obey these instructions.

He added: "The suspension on that life sentence can be lifted in almost no time at all."

In sentencing the woman, he said he was "in particular" taking into account the fact that the family had since forgiven her and reconciled.

He also took into account her early guilty plea, absence of previous convictions, her remorse and her background of mental illness.

Earlier, the court heard from Dr Ananth Pullela, a forensic psychiatrist, who said he believed the woman suffered from "paranoid schizophrenia".

Gda Tracey Stanley told prosecuting counsel, Mr Edward Comyn SC, that gardaí rushed to the scene of the fire shortly after 6am.

Neighbours had gathered outside and the woman's husband was upstairs with the three children, signalling to gardaí through a window.

Attempts to enter the house from the ground floor door failed and a ladder was used to reach the victims and bring them to safety.

The woman was not in the house at the time but she appeared a short time later, claiming she had left the house to get something for her headache.

However, a concentrated smell of petrol at the bottom or the stairs gave rise to suspicions and technical examination of the scene revealed that the fire had been started intentionally.

CCTV footage and witness statements revealed the woman had bought a can of petrol the evening before the fire.

She was subsequently arrested and initially denied any involvement with the fire but later admitted she did it.

However she told gardaí that her memory of it was "hazy".

Gda Stanley said she told them: "I don't know what happened. I'm in a nightmare. What did I do? I never meant to hurt them…..I was trying to kill myself. I'm so sorry."

She also said: "I've ruined my whole life," and "I do know I did it but I can't remember it."

"If I could turn back time , I would turn to …(her husband) and ask him for help."

After her arrest, she was hospitalised as a psychiatric patient for 11 weeks in Ennis Hospital.

Psychiatric assessments revealed was suffering from an "acute delusional state" and that she believed her house was possessed at the time.

Gda Stanley said the woman had not been caring for her family and that "a lot of neglect" was apparent when they visited the home.

It was also revealed that she had moved her things into a flat in Limerick the week before the fire. When gardai visited the flat, they found four insurances policies, the largest of which was worth €180,000 in the event her husband died.

She had told psychiatrists she had been worried by debts and she was having difficulty paying off.

While psychiatrist Dr Damien Mohan said these matters were evidence of her "deceptive" nature, Dr Pullela said impaired judgement and changes in personality and behaviour were part of schizophrenia.

Dr Pullela also said her symptoms had been increasing in severity for the six months prior to her setting fire to the home.

Among her symptoms were auditory hallucinations, which meant she heard voices telling her to kill herself and her paranoid belief that everyone was talking about her. She had also felt her children would be better off dead.