An arsonist who admitted to killing a man after a Garda cold case review of a fatal mobile home fire in 2006 has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for manslaughter.
The court was previously told that a woman who gave her then-partner Martin Kelly an alibi during the investigation into the fatal 2006 fire later came forward and changed her statement after he started dating another woman.
Kelly has since amassed 196 convictions — including those related to assault and criminal damage from fire — and is considered to be at high risk of recidivism.
Mr Paul McDermott, who convicted Kelly in the Central Criminal Court today, said the “extremely comprehensive” statements about the impact of victims of Gerry Nolan’s family eloquently demonstrate the devastating and profound lasting effect of their terrible loss, the horror of the way the deceased died and the fact that Mr. Nolan had not been given justice, as his family had seen for over 16 years.
The judge also said that setting fire to Mr. Nolan’s house went beyond an intent to scare him and an intent to terrorize him. It also showed the shocking and heartless indifference of the accused to the fate of the deceased, I added.
Last week, the family of “kind and gentle soul”, Mr. Nolan, told the court that he had been murdered “in a gravely ill and horrific manner” when then-teenager Kelly set fire to the victim’s mobile home.
They said they will never forget the “horrific images” of the deceased’s house “which went up in flames”.
Speaking outside the Criminal Courts of Justice building today, Mr Nolan’s family said: “Gerry has been and will never be forgotten by his family. It has been 16 stressful and traumatic years and today we have received closure and justice for Gerry. “
The family also thanked gardaí and their local community for helping them over the years.
Last March, Kelly (35) of Church Avenue, Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Gerard ‘Gerry’ Nolan (44) on 24 July 2006 in Deerpark, Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny.
In 2020, Kelly was charged with the murder of Mr. Nolan, but Sean Gillane SC, of the DPP, said earlier this year that the manslaughter plea was acceptable to the state.
During Kelly’s sentencing last week, the Central Criminal Court heard William Nolan begging his brother to get out of the mobile home because it “melted,” but could only hear Gerry Nolan say, “I can’t.”
It was also shown that the deceased was very badly burned and totally unrecognizable when emergency services got access to the mobile home.
Before handing down today’s verdict, Judge McDermott said the defendant was 19 years old when he set fire to Mr Nolan’s mobile home and that he was now 35 years old. His plea meant accepting that he was guilty of the gross recklessness that led to Mr Nolan’s death, he added.
With regard to the deceased’s brother who lived in a nearby prefab, Mr Justice McDermott said they were in a close relationship, William Nolan was awakened at 3:45 am to see a man head towards his brother’s mobile home .
“He heard glass creaking and saw flames coming from the mobile home, he ran outside and could not gain entry. He tried to break the glass of the door and it did not work. He encouraged his brother Gerry to leave, but the intensity the flames made that impossible,” he continued.
Referring to Kelly’s 196 previous convictions, the judge said more than 100 of them were related to road traffic cases and some of them were of concern as they related to violence committed after this crime. He had been convicted ten times for criminal damages, two of which involved fire, he added.
The court heard that Kelly’s convictions include assault, criminal damage, burglary and entering a building with intent to commit a criminal offense. He has also been convicted of endangering driving a stolen vehicle belonging to an An Garda Síochána member.
The judge handed down his sentence today, saying Kelly had been repeatedly referred to probation since he was 16, had abused drugs and alcohol from a young age leading to his repeated offence, and had spent most of his time in custody. . his teenage years. He is also considered to be at high risk of recidivism, he said.
Mr McDermott said Kelly had described what he had done as “eating him constantly” since 2006. The defendant said he had been drinking all day and that the crime was prompted by an incident where he went to his mother’s house. and an argument with his brother, he said.
Kelly, the judge continued, said he only wanted to scare Mr Nolan and that he saw the victim sleeping at night.
Justice McDermott said the accused had thought very little about the consequences of his actions and that he could not bring himself to come forward at the time. He also had prolonged the suffering of the Nolan family and implicated another person in the crime, he said.
Given the seriousness of the crime, the judge said it was committed with a high degree of recklessness by setting fire to a mobile home he knew Mr Nolan lived in.
He added: “Setting a house on fire is more than an intent to scare, it is an intent to terrorize. Fire will naturally spread and become uncontrollable. There is a very high risk of serious injury or death of a person, all the more so if the arsonist does nothing to limit the damage.”
The aggravating factors in the case included that the fire was lit “in the middle of the night” with no intent to warn the deceased of the danger, that the suspect drove to Mr. Nolan’s home with the intent to start the fire and that Kelly had left the scene of the accident with no regard for the victim’s safety or to save him from serious injury.
“This showed the shocking and heartless indifference to Mr. Nolan’s fate, that he… [Kelly] also arranged an alibi and that he did nothing to help the investigation of the [other person] he knew,” said the judge.
Mr Justice McDermott said it was the most serious crime of manslaughter and had the highest range, ranging from 15 years in prison to life in prison.
I set the headline to 17 years.
As a mitigating circumstance, the judge noted his guilty plea for manslaughter, his age at the time of the crime, and his expression of genuine regret for the murder that he felt was welcome but long overdue.
In addition, the court took into account Kelly’s difficult upbringing, the significant drug and alcohol abuse in his home and the number of years that have passed since the commission of the offense.
Kelly was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison, the last 18 months of which was probation for a period of three years on the condition that he avail himself of education and addiction treatment. It was retroactive to when he was taken into custody on November 2, 2021.
The defense asked for the freedom to mention the case later in the day as they said the accused had spent some time in Midlands Prison in Portlaoise before being transferred to Cloverhill Prison in November 2021.