Court hears homeless woman’s tent 'completely destroyed' in Dublin arson attack

Tom Tuite

A homeless man accused of burning out a tent belonging to a woman who also sleeps rough in central Dublin has been remanded in custody.

Jason Smith, 30, appeared at Dublin District Court on Saturday, charged with criminal damage by arson at Coles Lane on March 13th.

Smith, who has also been sleeping rough in the same area, has yet to enter a plea and will appear again on March 18th.

Garda Jordan Mulcahy told Judge Catherine Ghent that the accused faced bail objections. He alleged Smith was captured on high-quality CCTV footage of the Dublin 1 lane as he pulled the woman's tent "and lit it on fire".

No one was in it at the time. Garda Mulcahy maintained that the accused was observed throwing cardboard on it "to keep the fire going".

It belonged to a woman who had health problems, and it was "completely destroyed", the court heard.

The garda said he was waiting for an estimate of the clean-up cost of the path.

Legal aid was granted to Smith. His barrister, Kevin McCrave, informed the court that his client was deferring his bail application.

The tent owner did not attend the proceedings.