threats | 

Dublin man who told his mother ‘I’ll burn house with you in it,’ jailed for eight months

The victim said: “I love my son but he needs an awful lot of help. I just can’t take any more, my nerves are gone now as it is”

Yesterday at 10:20

A man who told his mother he would “burn her house down with her in it” has been jailed for eight months.

The 34-year-old accused made the threat in breach of a domestic violence order at the family home in Dublin, a court heard.

Judge Michele Finan backdated the sentence after hearing the man had already been in custody on the charge since May.

He pleaded guilty to contravening a barring order.

Dublin District Court heard gardaí were called to the victim’s home on May 28 this year.

The woman had been at a friend’s house when her other son called to say the accused had entered her home and was upstairs in a bedroom.

When she returned and confronted him, he refused to leave and “said he would burn the house down with her in it”.

She was not sure if she believed he would carry it out but the threat put her in fear. When arrested and charged, he said: “That is a load of lies.”

In evidence, the victim said: “I love my son but he needs an awful lot of help. I just can’t take any more, my nerves are gone now as it is.”

Defence solicitor Lorraine Stephens said “one drink is too much” for the accused as it leads him to taking other intoxicants.

He was “extremely close to his mother” but accepted he had to stay away from the family home.

Judge Finan said the man’s mother was “terrified” when he had alcohol taken and the threats he levelled at her were serious. The accused needed a “reality check”, she said.

The judge said she would order a probation report but Ms Stephens said the accused had instructed that he wanted the case finalised.

The judge then imposed sentence. She commended the victim, telling her: “You are very brave.”