Ballinasloe teenager jailed for shed fire
Galway Bay fm newsroom - A Ballinasloe teenager, who along with others, set fire to a shed has been sentenced to five years in prison with the final 18 months suspended.
19-year-old Stephen Shaughnessy from Dundonnell, Taughmaconnell, appeared before Galway Circuit Criminal Court.
He pleaded guilty to starting the fire in the shed at the rear of a house in Creagh, Ballinasloe, on August 29th, 2012.
Stephen Shaughnessy is already serving two years of a five-year sentence imposed on him last March for setting fire to a house in Creagh in 2012.
The court heard Shaughnessy met other teenagers in a field in Creagh that afternoon and later that night they went into the shed and lit a fire in a wooden box and sat around it for a while on couches.
The fire raged and they doused it with coke to quell it before leaving.
The shed subsequently burnt to the ground at a cost of €50,000 along with €9,000 worth of props belonging ot Ballinasloe Musical Society.
Hearing Shaughnessy had 50 previous convictions, including one for burning wheelie bins, and reading a negative probation report, Judge Sean O'Donnabhain said nobody seemed to be getting through to the troubled teen.
He imposed a five-year sentence for this latest arson but suspended the final 18 months on condition Shaughnessy come under the supervision of the probation service on his release.