Published: Thursday, 18th March, 2010 12:00pm

Teenager who burned aircraft escapes jail term

€50,000 worth of damage caused

The burned out shell of the 1939 aircraft, which was destroyed by the fire.

A 19-year-old man appeared at Cavan Circuit Court last Thursday charged with arson at Ramonan, Ballyjamesduff on November 11, 2008, in an incident where a 1939 aeroplane and the steel shed it was kept in were destroyed by the accused, who was a Leaving Cert student at the time.

Ciaran McMahon, Graddum, Crosserlough, pleaded guilty before Judge John O'Hagan to damaging by fire a steel structure shed used as an aeroplane hangar and an Auster aircraft built in 1939, valued at €25,000 each - the property of Nancy and Norbert Reilly.

Garda Ann-Marie Larkin told the court that after receiving a report from the fire brigade, she and Garda Noel Flemming patrolled the area and met with two youths, one of whom was the accused, who had muck on his clothes.

Garda Larkin subsequently made enquiries in Ashford Downs, an estate near the burnt shed, and spoke to the accused's mother, asking if they would voluntarily supply the clothing he was wearing earlier, which they did.

The following day, Mr. McMahon met Garda Larkin by arrangement and made a statement in which he admitted the offence.

The student at St. Clare's College in Ballyjamesduff had been off school for the day and went for a walk "to clear his head". He went with a friend, Cormac Slane, to the shed, which was open and used on occasion as a hang-out.

Mr. McMahon told in the statement how he took out a lighter that he had in his pocket from lighting an open fire at home earlier and flicked a flame at some frayed threads hanging from the aircraft.

"The flame went up very quickly... I don't know why I did it," Garda Larkin read from the accused's statement. In desperation, while his friend watched what was happening, the teenager tried to put the fire out by throwing things at it, before they ran away.

That night the accused talked things through with his mother, told her what happened and she made contact with gardaí for him to make his statement.

The accused "flicked a lighter at a couple of threads hanging out of the plane and it just took off", according to the prosecution. His statement completely exonerated his friend from any involvement.

The plane, which was valued by one aviation expert at £20,000, was not insured. The cost to the fire service was €6,000 and the shed was left in a dangerous state and subsequently knocked.

The court heard that it was the first dealing the accused ever had with the gardai and he hadn't come to their attention since.

Miriam O'Reilly, BL, passed on Mr. McMahon's apologies to the Reilly family, the gardai, the court and his own family. The accused, whose mother was in court with him, had been finding the pressures of Leaving Cert year stressful, but passed and has now finished an apprenticeship.

Judge O'Hagan described it as "a very sad case". Noting that the teenager was only 18, the judge said: "Arson is a very, very serious offence... but this appears to be somewhat on the lower scale".

Judge O'Hagan said he didn't believe the act was malicious, but pointed out that it was a crime nonetheless.

"One has to take responsibility for one's actions," he said, also speaking of the loss to the Reillys.

Pointing out that the conviction would have an effect on the accused's chances of obtaining work-visas for some countries, Judge O'Hagan sentenced the accused to two months in prison but substituted it with 240 hours community service.