Man Jailed For Nine Years For Midlands Arson Attack Causing €3.5m Worth Of Damage

He was arrested on August 8, 2024, and denied any involvement in the fire.

A Mullingar restaurateur has been jailed for nine years for an arson attack, which a Circuit Court judge has said was ‘a crime of spite and revenge’, causing over €3m worth of damage to a busy shopping street in Longford two years ago.

Chinese national Guo Zhong Chen (57), with an address at Belvedere Terrace, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, appeared before Judge Kenneth Connolly at Longford Circuit Court, where, in a letter of apology, he admitted setting fire to a rival business was a “stupid and foolish thing to do”.

He was given a headline prison sentence of 14 years, which was mitigated to ten years and six months, with the final 18 months suspended for a period of three years.

“When I came to hear this case first, I was always conscious of the physical damage that has been caused,” Judge Connolly commented. “But I think what escaped me at that point in time is the breadth of personal damage that this offending has done both to the town of Longford, to the business and commerce of the town of Longford, to 19 individual tenants in the building, and indeed the owners of the building.

That damage was not limited only to the damage to the premises, but very significant financial and emotional damage which has had an impact on people’s health and mental health.”

Mr Chen’s level of culpability was “very high indeed”, he said, though he accepted there was “less malice than might be present in a domestic residential situation where one intentionally sets fire to a house, knowing there are occupants in it”.

“But this is still a crime of spite and revenge, given the context that informed it. It was planned, it was organised, and it was executed to an exacting degree.

I believe he knew exactly what he was doing and why,” said Judge Connolly.

He also took into consideration the “very vast extent of the damage caused, not just to the building, not just to the owners of the building, but to the tenants of the building”, and the “utterly horrendous effects” on the business owners, many of whom provided powerful victim impact statements to the court in May.

In a letter of apology, Mr Chen stated he had opened a sushi and bubble tea business in Mullingar in 2022, where he struck up a business relationship with a woman, whom he trained, and who was “an invaluable part of the business as my grasp of the English language is poor”.

The woman was “an asset” to him and, when she informed him she was leaving the business, “I implored her not to do so, to no avail”. He said he felt taken advantage of and acknowledged he was wrong to feel that way.

“I wanted to frighten and scare her. In hindsight, I see it was a foolish and stupid thing to do. How could I be so stupid and make such reckless mistakes?” he said of the arson attack. He said he has been in prison for almost two years - “and rightly so” - and accepted that he will “spend many more years in prison”, before apologising to the business owners, Gardaí and emergency services, and all the people of Longford, as well as his former business partner.

“I am forever ashamed and humiliated by my actions,” he said, “Please believe me, I never intended for all of this to happen, it was only supposed to be that one bin”. In October of last year, Mr Chen pleaded guilty to count two on the indictment, arson contrary to section 2(1) and 2(4) of the Criminal Damage Act 1991, on a full-facts basis.

A charge of criminal damage to a range rover jeep on July 7 was taken into consideration.

The arson charge relates to July 28, 2024, in the Grafton Court Complex of Longford town, and the blaze saw the closure of 19 businesses, causing €3.5m worth of damage.

Some of those businesses never reopened, the court heard. At the sentence hearing, Garda Shane O’Connor outlined to the court how the fire started in the gated laneway adjacent to Oyama Sushi in Grafton Court, Longford, in the early hours of July 28 and spread across a number of businesses causing substantial damage but, mercifully, no injuries.

The blaze was brought to Garda attention at 1.27am, when it became clear that a very serious fire was underway, with four people present in the upstairs portion of the building. All occupants were safely evacuated and units of fire brigade from Longford, Lanesboro, Ballymahon and Edgeworthstown spent hours on the scene.

“Somewhat fortuitously, the roof of the building collapsed and that somewhat quenched the flames and assisted the fire brigade’s effort to bring it under control,” said Stephen Faulkner BL, instructed by state solicitor Mark Connellan on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The area that was set alight was near the grease extractor fan, which Gda O’Connor explained was “more or less like a chimney, which went up to roof level”. This extractor fan allowed the flames to travel upwards, causing the blaze to spread.

There were also four gas cylinders beside the grease extractor fan, with safety mechanisms which, when externally heated, allowed gas to escape gradually in bursts until the tank was empty, to avoid explosions.

Those bursts from four cylinders were “like flame throwers”, and added to the severity of the fire, he said.

Extensive CCTV footage tracked Mr Chen from Austin Friar Street in Mullingar, into Longford town via the N4, and ultimately back to Mullingar via Edgeworthstown and then Ballymahon.

Mr Chen was arrested on August 8, 2024, and denied any involvement in the fire.

A total of 19 businesses were affected, with 11 of those providing victim impact statements, including the proprietors of the Sushi restaurant who said they feel fear every time they hear a fire alarm or a siren, and that they are worried Mr Chen will come for revenge if he is released from prison.

Michael O’Higgins SC, mitigating on behalf of Mr Chen, told the court that his client had a complicated upbringing.

He was involved in child labour from an early age, has had no formal education or schooling and is therefore completely illiterate.

Mr Chen emigrated from China to the UK in the late 90s, where he spent some time working in London’s Chinatown, before coming to Ireland in 2001 and working.

He has owned a number of businesses, mainly Chinese takeaways, which failed, as well as a supermarket, which he opened in Mullingar in 2018 and had to close during the Covid-19 pandemic.

His most recent business is the bubble tea and sushi bar in Mullingar. Before being remanded in custody, he also worked in a bakery in the mornings.

Mr Chen has a wife and step children back in China, and he supported them financially, sending money back every month.

He had to renounce his Chinese citizenship as a result of moving to the UK, the court heard, and has been an Irish citizen since 2008.

A number of victim impact statements were previously read out in court, detailing the loss suffered by those who were affected. Mr Chen’s sentence was backdated to August 8, 2024, when he first went into custody.