Man jailed for four years for setting fire 'to put fear of God' into 4-yr-old

A man has been jailed for four years for setting a house in Dublin on fire to put "the fear of God" into a four-year-old boy who was asleep inside.

Robert Murphy, a homeless drug addict, was on bail at the time of the arson attack in November of last year.

A passer-by spotted flames and smoke billowing from the house at Kiltipper Drive, Tallaght in the middle of the night on November 27, 2013.

The mother and son were asleep inside. The man began banging on the windows to wake them up.

The front door of the house was on fire and they had to run through the flames to make their escape. The house and its contents were destroyed.

Thirty-one-year-old Robert Murphy admitted starting the blaze and said he did so because he wanted to put "the fear of God" into the then four-year-old boy.

He claimed the boy's father had attacked him previously and frightened his own child.

Murphy was on bail at the time for firing a shotgun in Blanchardstown a year before the arson attack. A man was injured but never made a complaint.

Judge Desmond Hogan sentenced him to nine years for all offences but suspended the final five years.