A man who set fire to a garage and a car which were obstructing the path his elderly mother walked home on has been given a five-year suspended sentence by Judge Elizabeth Dunne. Thomas Hogan (52), Mount Pleasant Parade, Ranelagh, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to a series of arson attacks in October 1998.
Hogan set fire to Tom Kelly's garage in Mount Pleasant Avenue, Lower Ranelagh, after dousing it with petrol, causing £10,000 damage. No one was injured. He had earlier attempted to put firelighters in letter-boxes along the street and had also set fire to a parked vehicle.