3 years for arson attack on elderly man’s home and theft from Cement Factory

On 20th September 2005, Jonothan Colbert, of Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, set fire to a sofa in the living room of a house belonging to a man in his 70s. Colbert had previously served a five month prison sentence for assaulting the same man.

He was seen laughing as he left the house after setting fire to it.

The elderly man is receiving an old-age pension and has so far spent €12,000 repairing his smoke and fire damaged Ballinacurra Weston home.

The ADHD sufferer was also involved in the robbery of almost €29,000 worth of copper wire from Irish Cement in Mungret on June 14,2007.

After receiving a tip off that the wire would be on the grounds of the Irish Cement facility, he and two associates nicked it and melted away the plastic on a bonfire at a halting site, before selling the remaining copper to a scrap merchant for €5,000.

At Limerick Circuit Court today, Colbert was given a three year prison sentence for the two charges after he had previously pleaded guilty.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 7:47 pm and is filed under All. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Hoof

Thanks for the compliment, biggie. Nothing wrong with debate and it would be a dull old place if we agreed on everything....sure look at what that's done to the F'n'F'ers.

Limerick bure : in your remark re Mr. Colbert - "i know this young fella and he is harmless really ", would you not be better off explaining that to the elderly man he has attacked on a number of occasions and burnt out of his home causing €12000 damage. I sure that man be able to offer you a different perspective on what harmlessness constitutes.

And have you proof of that "4 years for a pair of socks" one. Find it hard to believe tbh.

biggie

hoof i think your contributions are very good. i dont agree with a lot of them but they certainly stir up debate.

biggie

limerick bure.
nobody gets 4 years iin prison for stealing a pair of socks. unless you were on a suspended sentence even at that its highly unlikely that the judge would activate your suspended sentence. so please talk facts not fiction it just doesnt happen .

Hoof

Interesting biggie, didn't know that, I'm off to pay my TV Licence as we speak. But they must revert to hetero after coming out (pardon the unintended pun) of jail, because the fuckers are breeding like rabbits from what I can see. All those soap in the shower jokes must have some truth in them though !!

I suppose another way of looking at sentencing might be to give them say 3 years - which means 3 years - and if they misbehave inside an automatic extension of one-third of the original sentence is applied. But I suppose some "human rights" solicitor would, ahem, tear the arse out of that one.

limerick bure

they accually do three weeks in a prison month as i was locked up before i know what it is lik it is not true that most people become homosexual after being locked up and this young fella as a serious adhd problem and sometimes he cant help himself but cause trouble i know this young fella and he is harmless really three years is a long time away from home when you have a serious problem and when i was in the court last month a man who has serious mental problems paid for items in a shop and on the way out looked at a pair of sockings and got distracted forgot to put the item back and got sentenced to 4 years that just shows you the judges are afraid of the real scumbags and give the people with petty crimes longer where is the justice in that

biggie

hoof.
the judges are aware of remission when they sentence people. if there wasno remission he would hve given this thug 2 years not 3. the reason they get remission is so as they will behave while in jail. otherwise prisoners would cause serious problems and its the staff who would suffer. i have a friend who is a prison officer and he told me most of the prisoners become homsexual if they are in longer than 6 months.

Hoof

Fair enough Biggie. I would have thought 3 years should mean 3 years in any case, rather than have Judges pretend to hand down tough sentences, knowing full well that there's an automatic early release date providing they eat all their dinner and don't hide the TV remote control while incarcerated.

To the point

Well i only gave his nickname,his full name was already published and far more people know him by his nickname

biggie

hoof.
they do 2 years and 3 months out of 3 years. they get 3 months off each year. a lot of people dont know that i hear people saying when a guy gets 7 years oh he will be out in 3 years well they are wrong you do 5 years and 3 months out of 7 years

wanderingpotatoehead

not really to the point there squid..

shan

Like Krista I have a someone in my house who suffers from ADHA, OCD and a form of Asperger's to label oneself with any of the above to get a lenient sentence is a low blow to real sufferers. Committing crimes like these wouldn't even enter into the equation and to highlight ADHA as a mitigating factor is ludicrous.

Hoof

Who pays for the damage done to this man's home or the help he needs to overcome the fear of this character showing up on his doorstep again?
We all know what 3 years translates to in Irish Judicial terms .....18 months. And who compensates that elderly man for the misery done onto him deliberately by someone who obviously delights in his persecution? [mod edit ... the rest i cannot publish]

To the point

Removed by : Squid

Reason : Too much private information. I'm removing under my "when in doubt, leave it out" policy. Not saying what you say is untrue, just saying that it might infringe some law if I were to publish it.

limerick gal

yes three years isnt enough he assaulted the man and recieved a 5 month sentence and after that he set fire to the house i system is not right he is a boy in need and they are gaving it to him in prison but because he has adhd he gets a light sentence everyone will be using this excuse now and everyone will be getting away with light sentences

Shannaboley

Speaking of things not right, I just read in the post online, that the woman stabbed on Clare Street filed no complaint? and that the assailants are known to her.Gardi are saying they have no complaint? what does that mean? that no charges will be brought forth? no! that could not be the case right?

Sorry fot the thread jacking.

arse_over_tits

My removed comment is exactly the same as what Mike said.

wanderingsodacake

Will the old man get any help with the refubishment costs?

Mike

ADHD and similar are the new trendy excuse from barristers and social workers as to why your average scumbag shouldn't get the sentence he deserves. It's insulting to the victims and to genuine suffers like Krista.

krista

3 years is not long enough agreed yes..Don't they usually refer to the criminal as the''unemployed man from limerick'',as opposed to the ''adhd sufferer'' or the ''sufferer of depression'' im an adhd sufferer i also ''suffer'' from mania and ocd and would never dream of setting fire to a neighbours property..

Squid

have replied to your mail

OK back on topic.

NewsWire

done

Squid

no mail received at any of those addresses. can you send it again.

Squid

let me have a look. gimme a minute

NewsWire

Sorry to go off topic but i havn't gotten an answer to three emails i sent to you squid.Are our emails going to your spam filter by any chance? i sent emails to editors@limerickblogger.org , squid@limerickblogger.org and limerickblogger@gmail.com regarding an issue.

arse_over_tits

Removed by : Squid

Reason : defamitory (comment edited before publication)

maryo

That poor man, I wonder would he have any feelings if it was his father/grandfather - 3 years isnt long enough.......

The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

3 years for arson attack on elderly man’s home and theft from Cement Factory