Teen to be detained for eight years over Army chaplain stabbing

A 17-year-old boy who stabbed an Army chaplain outside a barracks in the Republic of Ireland last year has been sentenced to 10 years detention with the final two suspended.

Fr Paul Murphy was stabbed seven times with a hunting knife while attempting to drive into Renmore Barracks in Galway in August 2024.

The teenager, aged 16 at the time, was arrested at the scene after being restrained by members of the Defence Forces.

The boy, who cannot be identified because of his age, had pleaded guilty to attempted murder earlier this year.

Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported that the judge said the case demonstrated dangers to children caused by their exposure to and influence by extreme views online.

The judge said the teenager had been radicalised and this was rooted in him being drawn in through the internet to extreme views.

He said the teen’s vulnerability to this was exacerbated by his social isolation, his prolonged engagement with certain websites and his autism spectrum disorder.

The judge added that the boy was not experienced enough to understand the warped and twisted perspectives he encountered.

The teenager was ordered by the judge to be supervised for three years after his release.

The judge also ordered that he must undergo any programmes, including a deradicalisation programme, as directed by the Probation Service.

Before the teenager was taken back into custody, Fr Murphy spoke to him for a few moments after shaking his hand.

The sentence has been backdated to when the teenager entered custody in August.

Speaking outside the court on Tuesday, Fr Murphy said it was “very easy for us to fight hatred with hatred and the world just becomes entrenched in hatred and that is the way the world is at the moment”.

“St John said that God is love and if we believe God to be love, then we know that love is stronger than hate and so to respond to hate with love will hopefully bring a different world for us all”.

Fr Murphy said his “only hope” for the boy is that “he will return to society better able to manage his own life and also to make a more positive contribution to society”.

“My focus now is to get home to prepare for the international and military pilgrimage to Lourdes which is coming up and then three days after that, I deploy to Lebanon for six months,” he said.

Following a court hearing earlier in April, Fr Murphy offered forgiveness to the 17-year-old and hugged him.

The Central Criminal Court in Dublin heard that the boy, who was 16 at the time, supported the so-called Islamic State (IS) group and had been radicalised online.

CCTV footage showed showed Father Murphy driving his jeep through the gates of the barracks, after the teenager began stabbing him with a hunting knife.

The boy hung on to the side of the vehicle and continued to stab the priest as the car moved.

RTÉ reported that when the boy was arrested, he told gardaí: “I did it. I attacked the guy in the car.”

He said he did it to “protect the Irish Defence Forces work in Mali and all the stuff for Islam”.

Analysis of a device found at his home found content suggestive of a radicalised Islamic mindset.

A poster with Arabic writing saying ‘Allahu Akhar’ or ‘God of Great’ were found in the boy’s home during a search. An Islamic State flag and a notebook with writing and graphic sketches depicting beheadings were also found.

The teenager denied the sketches were his.

The court heard he had converted to Islam at the age of 15.

During interviews, the teenager claimed he had no real recollection of the incident, but he apologised, saying he did not realise the man he stabbed was a priest.

He said he had mental health problems and said: “I don’t know what made me do it.”

Fr Murphy told the court, in a victim impact statement, that he thanked God every day that the knife tore through his skin and “not through the body of one of my comrades”.