A 17-year-old boy who stabbed an Army chaplain outside an Army barracks last year, apologised to him in court this afternoon, as the priest told him he forgave him.
The boy pleaded guilty to attempting to murder Fr Paul Murphy by stabbing him multiple times at Renmore Barracks in Galway on 15 August 2024.
Fr Murphy told the boy he forgave him and hoped he would learn a better way of living.
He spoke to the boy after the court proceedings were adjourned and hugged him as the boy apologised again.
The sentencing hearing at the Central Criminal Court heard the boy, who was 16 at the time, supported the so-called Islamic State terrorist group and had been radicalised online.
The court heard an analysis of devices found at his home found content suggestive of a radicalised Islamic mindset and included graphic videos of beheadings and other acts of extreme violence.
Fr Murphy also told the court that he was the best placed person to "take the knife that night".
He said he thanked God every single day that the knife tore through his skin and "not through the body of one of my comrades". And he said he considered it an honour and a privilege to carry the scars until his dying day.
Detective Sergeant Paul Nulty told the court that on the night of 15 August 2024, the boy who was a secondary school student, had been working and then went to the gym.
He then cycled to the barracks.
Fr Murphy arrived back home to the barracks at about 10.40pm having been for a swim. As he waited in his car outside the gate, the boy approached him and asked to talk to him.
As soon as Fr Murphy lowered his window, the boy lunged at him with a hunting knife and began stabbing him repeatedly.
CCTV footage shown in court showed Fr Murphy driving his jeep through the gates of the barrack. The boy hung on to the side and continued to stab the priest as the car moved.
He ignored shouts to stop as well as warning shots fired by soldiers. The assault only came to an end when soldiers were able to restrain him on the ground.
A knife recovered at the scene was a hunting knife with an eight inch serrated blade. It had been bought online and delivered to the boy's home in November the previous year.
When he was arrested the boy told gardaí "I did it. I attacked the guy in the car." He said he did it to "protest the Irish Defence Forces work in Mali and all the stuff for Islam".
When the boy’s home was searched a poster with Arabic writing saying 'Allahu Akbar' or' God is Great' was found as well as an Islamic State flag and a notebook with writing and graphic sketches depicting beheadings.
The boy denied the sketches were his.
The court heard he had converted to Islam at the age of 15 and regularly attended Friday prayers at a mosque Galway.
Gardaí seized a laptop, phone and iPad at the house and also obtained orders against Google, TikTok and Instagram.
Detective Sergeant Nulty said a lot of the content they found showed support for Islamic state and included various ISIS propaganda videos.
The boy had a particular interest in a British ISIS activist called 'Jihadi John'.
In interviews the boy claimed to have no real recollection of the incident but apologised saying he did not realise the man he had stabbed was a priest.
He said he had mental health problems including depression and anger and said "I don’t know what made me do it".
Sergeant Nulty said the last Defence Forces mission in Mali had come to an end well before the stabbing occurred. He agreed that Fr Murphy was not specifically targeted by the boy - his car was just the first to arrive at the barracks after the boy had reached the area.
Fr Murphy suffered stab wounds to each of his arms. He continues to suffer with scarring and reduced function in his left arm.
In his victim impact statement, he described trying to fend off his attacker and the "piercing knife" as the boy tried to rob him of his life in an attack that lasted only 90 seconds.
But he said far from being "in the wrong place at the wrong time", he was convinced he was the right person, in the right place at the right time and he described the night as being "filled with blessings".
Fr Murphy said he was fortunate that when he rolled down his window to talk to the boy it opened only two thirds of the way down, as if it had opened fully he would be dead.
He said he believed Irish Jesuit, Father Willie Doyle, an army chaplain who was killed in World War I had interceded on his behalf. He said his rosary beads were beside him in the car and a visor clip with his Guardian Angel provided excellent "top cover", protecting him.
Fr Murphy also thanked the armed guard at the gate who alerted others, and the soldiers who took down his assailant as well as those who helped him on the night and in the following weeks.
He said he had received many thousands of encouraging messages.
He said he continued to be extra vigilant when leaving his church and would probably never fully feel free.
But he said he was a certain age, he had done first aid and ambulance work for over 40 years, had been a priest for almost 29 years and was in the army for over 11 years.
He said he felt he was best placed to take the knife that night, out of all the members of the Defence Forces.
He said he could contextualise what had happened in a way that would be more difficult for a young soldier starting out in adulthood.
In an extraordinary moment in the Central Criminal Court, Fr Murphy turned to the young man as he told him he offered him his forgiveness.
He said he hoped the forgiveness would help the young man to become a better person. And he said he hoped he would use whatever resources were put at his disposal in prison or beyond to learn a better way of living, and that he would use his energy and talents to make the world a better place for all people to live.
The boy replied that he was sorry.
Fr Murphy said everyone had to take responsibility for their actions. And he said the young man had committed an appalling crime, offending the State, the Defence Forces, and every soldier who had walked through the gate of the barracks.
"My only desire is that the young man before you would learn to see the error of his ways and, when the time comes, return to society to make a positive contribution to the world as a wholesome, happy and loving person," Fr Murphy said.
Defence counsel, Seán Gillane, said his client had no previous convictions and there was nothing in his history to suggest he would be involved in an offence of this nature.
The court was told he has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum which Mr Gillane said could explain his fixated thinking and impulsive action.
Mr Gillane said the boy was vulnerable to the material he found on the internet which led to increasing radicalisation and a poisoning of his belief system.
And he said it ultimately led to his catastrophic and misconceived attempt to seek some sort of revenge on the Irish Defence Forces for the misconceived conclusion he had arrived at about Mali.
Mr Gillane suggested that there were not many other jurisdictions where only warning shots would have been fired. He said the boy had remorse and a degree of insight.
His parents are separated, but had attended court and were both positive influences on him.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott said there was a lot to consider and he would give his sentence on 29 April.
After the judge left the courtroom, Fr Murphy approached the boy.
They exchanged words and a hug and the boy told the priest "again, I’m really sorry."