THE ARMY CHAPLAIN who was stabbed multiple times has remembered the “determined” look on the perpetrators face, but also “personally forgave” him with a “pure heart.”
Fr Paul Murphy was stabbed seven times by a teenager with a hunting knife while attempting to drive into Renmore Barracks in Galway at around 10.35pm on 15 August 2024.
The teenager, who cannot be identified because of his age, pleaded guilty to attempted murder earlier this year at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.
The 17-year-old was sentenced to eight years in detention.
Fr Murphy said to reporters after the sentencing, that he hopes he will make a “full return to society.”
He also hugged the young perpetrator in court and “forgave him.”
“I went over and whispered a few things into his ear and embraced him in the hope that the offer of forgiveness would change something,” told the RTE Radio 1 Sunday with Miriam programme that will be broadcast this morning.
“You can fight hate with hate, but then we become entrenched in our hatred. And I think there’s enough of that going on in the world,” Father Murphy added.
He said he didn’t remember the face of his perpetrator, but he remembered the “determination” of his expression with the “intent to end my life.”
He added: “I hadn’t much time to think at all, but I had time to think that this was serious.”
The court heard
“While I can personally forgive and I can have my heart pure of that, it doesn’t take away from the fact that there has to be a payment for this,” said Father Murphy.
“There was an offence against the State, the offence against the Defence Forces, an offence against every soldier who walks through the gate of the barracks,” he added.
During the sentencing, Justice Paul McDermott told Central Criminal Court that if the boy were an adult, without other acting circumstances, the crime could attract a sentence of up to 25 years.
On the day of the attack, the court heard that the boy had visited the gym before cycling a short distance to the barracks in Galway. He then concealed himself before the attack.
When the attack occurred, the boy did not respond to shouts from Father Murphy and others to stop, and ignored five warning shots fired by Defence Force members.
The court heard that he was determined to “complete his mission” until he was eventually subdued by a soldier.
The boy had previously had intrusive thoughts of killing an Irish soldier and had been influenced by radical Islamist online content, the court heard, including content produced by radical groups in support of ISIS., the court also heard.
The judge said the teenager was intelligent, had no previous convictions, and had “an obsessive personality” and was “drawn into a world” of “extremist views” online.
The judge also warned that young people can become “easy prey” for extreme content online, which had been seen in other court cases.
The boy has since fully engaged with counselling.
Last week, Justice McDermott sentenced the teenager to 10 years in detention with the final two suspended on condition he engage with deradicalisation and educational programmes.
Children under the age of 18 cannot be sent to prison; if a period of detention is handed down the child is held in a detention school or a detention centre.
If the period of detention extends beyond the child turning 18, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs can authorise the transfer to a place of detention or prison.
Father Murphy, a native of Waterford who lived at the barracks, has been an army chaplain since 2013 and has completed five overseas placements with the Defence Forces in Syria and Lebanon.
Fr Murphy said on moving forward from the attack: “I have scars on my arms, which I am proud and honoured to have. They will be with me all of the days of my life.”
The full interview will air at 10 am on RTE Radio 1.