Three youths were jailed today over an arson attack in Limerick that left two children scarred for life.
Milly and Gavin Murray with their mother Sheila
Milly and Gavin Murray were six and four years old when a petrol bomb was thrown into a car they were sitting in outside a house at Pineview Gardens on September 10th, 2006.
Both children have undergone extensive surgery and skin grafts.
John O'Donoghue, (18), Pineview Gardens, Moyross; John Mitchell, (18), Delmege Park, Moyross; and Robert Sheehan, (17), Pineview Gardens, Moyross appeared before Limerick Circuit Court this morning.
O'Donoghue and Mitchell had pleaded guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to the two children. Sheehan had pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of engaging in conduct that created a substantial risk of death or serious injury on the same date.
O'Donoghue was given an eight-year sentence, with the final two years suspended. Mitchell recieved a seven-year term, also with the final two years suspended.
Sheehan was ordered to serve two years in St Patrick's Institution.
Evidence was heard last month of how O'Donoghue filled a bottle with petrol before igniting it and throwing it at the car.
The court heard Mitchell held the bottle for his co-accused while he filled it from a gallon drum of petrol and stuffed paper in the top to act as a fuse.
Counsel for the State John O'Sullivan said the prosecution accepted the accused did not know the children were in the car when the petrol bomb was thrown.
The court heard that the children's mother, Sheila Murray, had earlier refused to give O'Donoghue and Sheehan a lift to a special court sitting, and gardaí believe her car was attacked as a reprisal.