A Co Meath man threw a bucket of petrol over a stove to start a blaze which claimed the life of his daughter, left his wife seriously injured and destroyed the family home, Trim Circuit Court has heard.
“I said to myself I’ll either set the place on fire or hang myself. It was in me to do it and I couldn’t hold back,” he later said to gardaí.
Peter O’Brien (81) with an address at St Michael’s, Beauparc, Co Meath pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of Sinead Masterson on December 16th 2021 and to charges of causing criminal damage with intent to endanger life and property on May 19th 2021 and assault causing harm to Maureen O’Brien on the same date.
Mother of two Sinead Masterson died from her injuries at St James hospital in Dublin seven months after the blaze.
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Garda Katryn Christie told prosecuting counsel Carl Hanahoe BL that Peter and Maureen O’Brien had been living separate lives at their family home for a number of years before the incident.
A succession of family and friends had called with cards, flowers and balloons to the house to wish Maureen happy birthday on the day of the fire but that evening the defendant grabbed the balloons and cards and put them in the bin.
Sinead, who lived nearby, confronted the defendant and retrieved the cards which she put back on a mantlepiece in the sitting room.
A short time later Peter O’Brien entered the room with a plastic bucket filled with petrol and threw it over the stove.
“Dad came into the room and said this will be the end of this property and threw the petrol on the stove”, Ms Masterson told gardaí.
“There were flames everywhere — he was pure angry, pure mad” Maureen O’Brien told gardaí and recalled crawling out of the house on her hands and knees.
Mrs O Brien suffered second and third degree burns to her face hands and knees.
The court heard the defendant dropped the bucket and met Sinead at a tap at the back of the house trying to douse the flames out before he drove off in his car.
Gda Christie told the court the defendant had gone for a spin around Slane before going to Navan Garda station about an hour later.
He admitted setting the house on fire and also told gardaí: “I didn't want the car to go up in the fire”.
In a garda interview he claimed the marking of his wife’s birthday was to provoke him and he just “couldn’t take any more”.
The court heard he also claimed he had suffered financial abuse from a family member but Mr Hanahoe said this claim was rejected by the prosecution.
Judge Martina Baxter was told that Sinead Masterson’s clothes had been burned off her in the blaze and she had to be taken to St James hospital in Dublin where she died on December 16th 2021.
In a succession of victim impact statement members of Sinead Masterson’s family spoke of how their lives would never be the same.
Maureen O’Brien said her life had been destroyed with her daughter and her home taken from her.
She said she spoke to her daughter’s picture every night and said “I’ll never understand how or why it happened but it shouldn’t have happened.”
Sinead’s sister Noeleen Donoghue spoke of the empty space at family gatherings and her fear of her father.
“I hope I never see him again after the court is finalised”, she said.
Paddy O’Brien said their family life had changed forever with the death of his sister Sinead.
Edward Masterson spoke of his wife’s kindness to people and her love of music. He recalled visiting her in hospital where all he could see was her two eyes and nose because she was so bandaged.
Sinead Masterson’s daughter Laura said she thought of her loving Mam every day and couldn’t think why her grandfather had done what he did. Ciara Masterson said her life had changed while her mother was in hospital.
Defence barrister Kathleen Leader SC said her client prayed for Sinead every night and had not intended to harm her when he set the house on fire and knew he should not have done it.
She added that the defendant had suffered from some mental health issues in his later life.
“He is someone who needs urgent counselling which he is not getting in custody”.
Judge Baxter who expressed her sympathies to the bereaved family and all who knew and loved Sinead Masterson and adjourned the case to October.