A 17-year-old boy has been sentenced to eight years in detention for the attempted murder of an Irish army chaplain last year.
Fr Paul Murphy was stabbed seven times with a hunting knife while attempting to drive into Renmore Barracks in Galway at around 10.35pm on August 15.
The teenager, then aged 16, was arrested at the scene after being restrained by members of the Defence Forces.
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 in the courtroom.
On Tuesday, Mr Justice Paul McDermott sentenced the boy to 10 years in detention with the final two suspended on condition he engage with de-radicalisational and educational programmes.
He said the teenager was intelligent, with no previous convictions, but had an “an obsessive personality” and was “drawn into a world” of “extremist views” online.
He warned that young people can become “easy prey” for extreme content online, which had been seen in other court cases.
The sentence is backdated to when the teenager entered custody in August.
Read More