A woman who shared a house in Dublin with a man charged with setting fire to a house on Inishbofin in which three elderly sisters died, told a jury yesterday that he had threatened to do the same to her.
Mr Alan Murphy (27), originally from Belfast, with an address at Spelga Avenue, Newcastle, Co Down, is pleading not guilty to the manslaughter of Mrs Eileen Coyne (81), at Middlequarter, Inishbofin, on July 6th, 1999.
He also denies the manslaughter of her two sisters, Mrs Bridget McFadden (80), and Miss Margaret Concannon (72), and to setting fire to Mrs Coyne's house on the same date.
Ms Martine Garland gave evidence that she moved into a house in Dublin with Mr Murphy and three others in January last year. Shortly after moving in, Mr Murphy told them all he was "up" for killing an 8-year-old girl and her mother in a fire. He said he had been blamed for setting the house on fire.
One to two weeks later Ms Garland had a row with Mr Murphy when she refused to go out with a friend of his. She became very frightened when Mr Murphy started shouting abuse at her.
"He was very threatening and very frightening. He said he would get all my stuff and burn it, like he did to the three women in Galway," she said.
Garda Agnes Reddy gave evidence that on February 4th last year a man came into Kilkenny Garda Station and said he wanted to hand himself in for three manslaughters and an arson at Inishbofin.
Garda Reddy said Mr Murphy told her he wanted to give himself up because he was responsible for the three manslaughters and arson, and added, "or so they tell me".
He said he was anxious to be in Garda custody. He was very calm, polite and was reading a thriller at the time, she said.