Serial arsonist who caused death of his uncle has sentence increased

A serial arsonist who burned his uncle to death as he slept at home has had his sentence increased at the Court of Appeal after the State successfully argued it was unduly lenient.

Daniel Murray (40), of no fixed abode but who lived in Co Cavan, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years at the Central Criminal Court in January of this year. Murray pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Patrick Oliver Murray at his home in Derrylurgan, Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, on August 2, 2018.

He was similarly sentenced after he admitted to arson intending to endanger the life of another at the same location and date with both sentences to run concurrently.

Murray, who denied a charge of murder, told gardaí that the house “went up like a matchbox” when he set fire to some sheets with a lighter.

The State later accepted Murray's guilty plea to manslaughter and dropped the murder charge.

Yesterday (Thursday) at the Court of Appeal, James Dwyer SC, for the State, submitted that the headline sentence of 12 years for both offences was too low and that it had been excessively reduced thereafter down to nine years.

Mr Dwyer said that a further suspension of the final 18 months also imposed by the trial judge amounted to a 37.5% overall reduction.

The barrister said Murray had lit a sheet in the house and put it out but then went back again and "deliberately" re-lit it before exiting.

Counsel said Murray had told gardaí: "I thought I'd get out the window or door. Have I got regrets? I don't know. I do and I don't. He's better off dead. His head was f**ked. I had to do everything for him. None of them wanted anything to do with him."

Mr Dwyer said Murray told gardaí: "I thought the bathroom would have stopped it - concrete floors and walls. It wasn't premeditated."

In reply, Patrick McGrath SC, for Murray, said the trial judge had "very carefully" considered all factors in the case when sentencing Murray. Mr McGrath said the judge had even reserved judgement in the case to take more time to deliberate matters and did not fail to identify any elements in the case.

Counsel said that it was the State who had failed to identify any departure in principle by the trial judge. He said the previous arson convictions were "very different" to what was before the court and that the trial judge was "acutely aware of that".

Mr McGrath said that, even if the 12-year headline sentence was described as lenient, "it was still not unduly lenient". He said the judge had rightly identified the upper end of the scale as the correct category for both offences.

Delivering the judgement at the Court of Appeal today (Friday), Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy disagreed and said the court felt the trial judge's sentence had indeed been unduly lenient.

In re-sentencing, Mr Justice McCarthy said Murray's culpability was "very significant" and placed the manslaughter in the high end of the range of sentencing for manslaughter.

The judge noted that Murray was an alcohol addict and highly "self-intoxicated" at the time but that this would offer him no mitigation in terms of culpability.

"The respondent's culpability was also significantly aggravated by the fact that he had previous convictions for arson-type criminal damage. We also consider that even in his intoxicated state, he must still have appreciated the vulnerability of his uncle, who had also consumed alcohol and was asleep in the premises, albeit in another room," said Mr Justice McCarthy.

The judge then fixed 15 years as a headline sentence but applied a discount of four years in light of Murray's guilty plea, personal circumstances, his remorse and positive reports received by the court.

"The sentence we have imposed contains a significant retributive element, and appropriately marks the censure and deprecation of society with respect to his conduct. That being said, however, reform and rehabilitation are also important objectives in sentencing," said the judge, noting Murray's progress with addiction issues while in prison.

Mr Justice McCarthy then said the court would suspend the final 18 months of the 11-year sentence for 18 months, leaving a final term to be served in jail at nine-and-a-half years.

Sentencing judge Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the accused held "a degree of animus" from time to time against his uncle and he had demonstrated a level of indifference to what happened that night.

The court had been told that Murray was more concerned about the welfare of the family dog when informed that a body had been discovered in the burned-out home.

The sentencing hearing was told that Murray had 48 previous convictions, three of which were for arson attacks carried out at nearby properties.

Despite Murray later expressing his remorse for the incident and his early guilty plea, Mr Justice McDermott said the nature and extent of the offending was of a "very serious kind" which had led to the death of his uncle and the taking of a life. Furthermore, he said, circumstances were made all the more serious by the accused's history of violence and his behaviour for setting fire to people's property.

The judge said Murray had no intention to kill his uncle and that "the situation the uncle faced was appalling, he was left in a house where the fire started".

Murray was staying with his uncle on the night and escaped through a window as the exterior doors of the house were locked.

The judge said the facts underpinning the case suggested a level of offending of "a very serious and reckless kind" and it was unfortunate that his uncle had gone to sleep in the house that night.

Mr Justice McDermott said there was a very high degree of recklessness involved as to what Murray did that night, when set against his background of setting fires at other locations. "These are very disturbing elements and I'm taking that into account in setting the appropriate penalty in this case," he said.

Mr Justice McDermott set the headline sentence at in the middle of the upper range for manslaughter, at 12 years.

The aggravating factors in the case included Murray's high level of culpability, the "terrible" damage caused, his previous convictions and the nature of those convictions.

In mitigation, the judge noted Murray's guilty plea to manslaughter, his "sincere" remorse for killing his uncle and the fact he is an alcoholic and drug abuser. The accused, he said, had also displayed stability and sobriety when serving his most recent sentence.