Man cleared of threatening to burn down house in Laois 

A man denied threatening to burn down his children’s grandmother’s house in Laois. 

The man (33), who cannot be named due to the nature of the proceedings, was accused of threatening to cause criminal damage and breach of a barring order in Laois on October 25, 2023. 

His ex-partner told a sitting of Portlaoise District Court that on the day in question she had a doctor's appointment and her sister was minding her kids on the date in question. She said her sister was walking with her eldest child when the man approached and asked to talk to the child. 

She said when her sister told the child was told to keep walking, the man called her sister “a whore and a prostitute” and threatened to burn down their mother’s house. The woman said she had been on the phone to her sister at the time and heard the conversation. 

She said every time he “gets intoxicated with drugs threats start to come” and she said it puts her in fear. She said she had been in a long term relationship with him and they had a number of children together but he is “basically a different person” when using drugs. 

Counsel for the accused said his client denies threatening to burn down a house. He said the woman had only recently contacted him to ask him to look after one of the children. 

“I am in fear of him and I will always be in fear of him,” the woman said. 

Her sister took to the stand and said when she had told the child to continue walking the man had called her “a whore and prostitute” and said he was going to burn down her mother’s house.

“I am pretty sure he had a knife in his pocket,” she said. 

She was asked by the man’s barrister whether she had given verbal abuse back.  

“I said I know I will never be the children’s mother,” she recalled. 

 When quizzed by Judge Andrew Cody on the knife, the woman said “I am assuming it was a penknife.” 

The court heard the man was arrested and questioned about the incident. He denied threatening to burn down the house and asked “why would I burn down a house with my kids in it?” 

“What kind of father would do that?” he asked. 

The man took to the stand and gave evidence. He claimed the child’s aunt had pushed the child and said he can’t speak with her. 

“I did get a bit vexed. There was shouting from both sides,” he said. 

“I said look, you can’t tell my daughter not to talk to me,” he stated.

The man denied having a knife and said he just wanted the matter dealt with. He claimed it was being blown out of proportion.

“She was shouting junkies and smell bags as well,” he said. 

The man said he previously had a problem with heroin. When asked by Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby how that had made him feel, the man replied, “like a scumbag”. 

When asked by Sgt Kirby whether he had called the woman a prostitute, he replied, “probably.”  However, he denied threatening to burn the house down. 

“Did you call her a slut?” Sgt Kirby asked. 

“No, and I didn’t call her a leg opener either,” he replied. 

 Judge Andrew Cody said there was a number of inconsistencies in the evidence given by the two sisters, particularly in relation to the knife but also in relation to other matters.

Judge Cody said there was no order preventing the man from talking to his children as that provision had been struck out. 

He said he couldn’t convict the defendant on other accusations but he bound he man to the man to the peace for two years and warned him that he needed to be careful.