Teenager sentenced to eight years for Islamist attack on army chaplain

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

A teenager who was radicalised by Islamist extremist content online has been sentenced to eight years for the attempted murder of an Irish army chaplain.

The court heard that the boy had planned to kill a member of the Defence Forces as a form of protest.

Father Paul Murphy was stabbed seven times with a hunting knife while attempting to drive into Renmore Barracks in Galway at around 10.35 pm on August 15th.

The teenager, then aged 16, was arrested at the scene after being restrained by Irish soldiers.

The boy, who cannot be identified because of his age, pleaded guilty to attempted murder earlier this year at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.

Giving his impact statement in April, Fr Murphy said he forgave his attacker before hugging him.

After Mr Justice Paul McDermott handed down the sentence on Tuesday, Fr Murphy embraced his attacker again in the courtroom.

“This young boy is going to prison for a few years. My only hope and prayer is that he will return to society better able to manage his own life and also to make a more positive contribution to society,” Fr Murphy said outside the courthouse.

Mr Justice McDermott sentenced the boy to 10 years in detention with the final two suspended with several conditions, including that he engages with de-radicalisational and educational programmes.

“The circumstances in which this happened are as terrifying as they are extraordinary,” he said.

“In the modern world, vulnerable and highly impressionable and otherwise intelligent teenagers can be the object of dangerous, manipulative, false and malicious propaganda by terrorists, or those holding terrorist sympathies, or other dangerous elements throughout the internet.”

He said the teenager had no previous convictions and had never before come to the attention of gardai.

The judge said the boy had an “an obsessive personality” and had an “intense fixation” in niche topics such as waste management systems and different religions.

He said he became “socially isolated” and was “drawn into a world” of extremist Islamist views and developed an “extremely distorted understanding” of what the Defence Forces do.

He had adopted the faith of Islam at the age of 14 but the judge said there was “no significant information of his immersion in the religion”, and said it was unclear whether his understanding of Islam was “entirely self taught” based on information from the internet.

He said online figures “gained his trust” and he began to have “intrusive thoughts” of killing an Irish soldier as a form of protest.

“Children have open access to their sites and they in turn gain access to our children to spread their poison. This is such a case,” he said.

He said other cases had come before the court where “extreme physical and sexual violence” had been perpetrated by young people after viewing “unsuitable and extreme” violent or pornographic scenes, or extreme political, religious, or discriminatory views.

“Due to their immaturity, children can be drawn to unsuitable sites and become relatively easy prey for fanatical propagandists,” the judge said.

He said that those who argued the online space should remain “lightly” regulated or not regulated at all “ignore the damage caused to children and the suffering inflicted upon others as a result”.

He added: “It is a very real and important childcare, safety and protection issue with enormous societal consequences if it is not addressed effectively.”

The day of the attack “was a normal day” for the teen, the judge said.

He worked at his part-time job, went to the gym, and went home before cycling to the barracks “with the intention of killing a member of the Defence Forces”.

Mr McDermott said he walked “purposefully” to an area at the barracks gate, according to “dramatic and shocking” CCTV footage.

When the attack began, the teen “thrust” the knife into his victim “for around 90 seconds”, as a sentry on duty called on him to stop and five warning shots were fired by soldiers, which had “no effect”.

“It’s clear that he was very dogged and persistent” in his intention until he was stopped by the Irish soldiers, the judge said.

Fr Murphy, who required surgery for his injuries and has lost some feeling in his arms, was not specifically singled out by the teenager, he added.

The judge considered the teenager’s early guilty plea and that he is “genuinely sorry” for what he did.

He also considered his enthusiasm at engaging in education and is open to accept any help offered while in custody.

The judge said he has “very supportive parents who are very surprised at what he did”.

He said his full deradicalisation in custody must be monitored.

The sentence is backdated to when the teenager entered custody on August 16.

Fr Murphy said afterwards: “It’s very easy for us to fight hatred with hatred, and the world just becomes entrenched in hatred, and that’s the way the world is at the moment.

“I think St John says that God is love, and if we believe God to be love, well then we know that love is stronger than hate, and so to respond to hate with love will hopefully create a different world for us all to live in.

“This young boy is going to prison for a few years.

“My only hope and prayer is that he will return to society better able to manage his own life and also to make a more positive contribution to society.

“My focus now is to get home to prepare for the international military pilgrimage to Lourdes, which is coming up, and then three days after that, I deploy to Lebanon for six months.”