A judge yesterday heeded the wishes of a Co Clare man who urged him not to send his wife to jail for trying to murder him and their three children.
Mr Justice Paul Carney, at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, imposed five suspended life sentences for four attempted murder charges and one arson charge. The 28-year-old mother, who worked as a care assistant at the time, had set fire to the family home in the early hours of September 25th, 2005.
Her husband and children have since forgiven her and she is now living back in the family home with the support of the local mental health services. Her husband held her hand and comforted the woman as she sobbed throughout the sentencing hearing.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had admitted four charges of attempted murder and two other charges relating to the same event, arson, and endangerment. When the husband went into the witness box, he said he had "absolutely" forgiven his wife who was ill at the time she set fire to the house.
He broke down as he said: "What we've been through in the last few years . . . I'd hate to see anyone else going through. We've come out the other side of it. We've come out a million times stronger."
Mr Justice Carney suspended all five sentences on the basis that she "obey all medical and psychiatric treatment". He said that while the accused was before the court on the basis of being fully criminally responsible, mental factors may be taken into account in mitigation.
The conditions of the suspended sentence means she must continue to co-operate fully with local mental health services which have been helping her since the time of the offence.
The judge said: "I'm concerned to structure a sentence which will, in the first instance, protect society; in the second, protect the family of the accused; and the third, facilitate her rehabilitation."
However, Mr Justice Carney warned the woman that he had recently put another man with a similar history back into prison after he failed to obey these instructions. He added: "The suspension on that life sentence can be lifted in almost no time at all."
In sentencing the woman, he said he was "in particular" taking into account the fact that the family had since forgiven her and reconciled. He also took into account her early guilty plea, absence of previous convictions, her remorse and her background of mental illness.
Earlier, the court heard from Dr Ananth Pullela, a forensic psychiatrist, who said he believed the woman suffered from "paranoid schizophrenia".