€3m blaze started over dispute with former business partner

A dispute with a former business partner who was leaving a Mullingar restaurant to take up employment with her brother at a sushi restaurant in Longford was the reason for an arson attack that caused €3m worth of damage to a busy shopping street in July 2024, a court has heard.

Chinese national Guo Zhong Chen (57), with an address at Belvedere Terrace, Mullingar, Westmeath, appeared before Judge Kenneth Connolly at Longford Circuit Court for a sentence hearing during which numerous victim impact statements from business owners on the street were read into the record.

In October of last year, Mr Chen pleaded guilty to count two on the indictment, arson contrary to section 2(1) and 2(4) of the Criminal Damage Act 1991, on a full-facts basis. A count of criminal damage will be taken into consideration.

The arson charge relates to July 28, 2024, in the Grafton Court Complex of Longford Town, and the blaze led to the closure of 19 businesses, and caused €3m worth of damage. Some of those businesses never reopened, the court heard.

Count one on the indictment relates to criminal damage to a Range Rover on July 7, 2024. A nolle prosequi will be entered on that charge in due course, but the incident was included as part of the evidence leading up to the arson.

Detective Garda Shane O’Connor outlined to the court how the fire started in the gated lane adjacent to Oyama Sushi in Grafton Court in the early hours of July 28 and spread across a number of businesses, causing substantial damage but, mercifully, no injuries.

The blaze was brought to garda attention at 1.27am, when it became clear that it was a serious incident, and four people were present in the upstairs portion of the building. All occupants were safely evacuated and units of fire brigade from Longford, Lanesboro, Ballymahon and Edgeworthstown spent hours tackling the blaze.

“Somewhat fortuitously, the roof of the building collapsed and that somewhat quenched the flames and assisted the fire brigade’s effort to bring it under control,” said Stephen Faulkner, BL, instructed by state solicitor Mark Connellan on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The area that was set alight was near the grease extractor fan, which Gda O’Connor explained was “more or less like a chimney, which went up to roof level”. This extractor fan allowed the flames to travel upwards, causing the blaze to spread.

There were also four gas cylinders beside the grease extractor fan, with safety mechanisms which, when externally heated, allowed gas to escape gradually in bursts until the tank was empty, to avoid explosions. Those bursts from four cylinders were like flame throwers, and added to the severity of the fire, he said.

A scene of crime was established once the fire was eventually put out, and it remained in place for a number of days while technical examinations were conducted and photographs taken.

Photographs furnished to the court showed a pair of latex gloves and a cigarette lighter which were discovered in long grass approximately 400 to 500 metres from where the fire began. There were also stills from drone footage, which showed the extent of the damage, as well as photos of the gas canisters beside the grease duct.

An extensive investigation was conducted, a number of witnesses were spoken to and a significant area was canvassed for CCTV footage.

The proprietor of the sushi restaurant and her husband both gave statements to gardaí regarding the prior incident of criminal damage to their Range Rover. They said that occurred when the restaurant owner had parked his vehicle at Townparks, Longford, while he spoke with his sister, a chef, regarding the opening of the restaurant.

When he returned to his vehicle, there was damage to the side of the range rover, “like a scraping along the side”, Gda O’Connor said.

The chef in question was taking up employment with her brother and his wife, the court heard. She disclosed to gardaí that she began living with Mr Chen in October 2022 and they entered into a business agreement for a sushi and tea restaurant on in the centre of Mullingar.

“Things were going well until such a time that there was an indication she would get involved with her brother’s business in Longford,” said Gda O’Connor.

Tensions rose and she moved out on July 1, 2024 and in to her brother’s house in Mullingar. Soon afterwards, she signed a lease in an apartment in Longford with a view to moving to the town and opening the restaurant on July 28.

She told gardaí that Mr Chen threatened her and told her that if she took the job in Longford, “it would not last long”. She moved to Longford on July 24 to prepare for the opening of the restaurant and, on July 25, she met the accused in the Tesco car park, where they had a heated argument.

Mr Chen was looking for her to return to Mullingar, the court heard. He sent her text messages on July 26 and 27. There was no communication on July 28 or 29, but the woman texted him on July 30 to ask if he had started the fire. He said he had not.

CCTV was obtained and a vehicle of interest was soon identified. That vehicle was a black Ford S Max. Extensive CCTV footage compiled into a PowerPoint presentation for the court tracked Mr Chen from Austin Friar Street in Mullingar, into Longford Town via the N4, and ultimately back to Mullingar via Edgeworthstown and then Ballymahon.

The footage shows him doing a number of laps of the town, pulling into a lane at Tashinny Lodge to remove rubbish from the boot of his car, before he parked on Bannon Terrace.

From there, he is seen on foot, obtaining a trolley from the car park outside Longford Shopping Centre, which he used to collect the previously dumped rubbish and move it to the courtyard beside Oyama Sushi.

He is then seen returning the empty trolley, before going back to the courtyard, where the blaze is then seen lighting up the wall as Mr Chen runs away. Further footage shows him discarding the gloves and blue lighter on Bannon Terrace, where they were later discovered by gardaí.

Mr Chen was arrested on August 8, 2024, and during the course of his detention, he was interviewed five times, aided by a Chinese interpreter. He denied any involvement in the fire. DNA and fingerprints were taken and a positive match returned for the blue cigarette lighter. He was subsequently charged with arson and has been in custody since then.

A total of 19 businesses were affected, and representatives of 11 of those provided victim impact statements, including the proprietors of the Sushi restaurant who said they feel fear every time they hear a fire alarm or a siren, and that they are worried Mr Chen will come for revenge if he is released from prison.

Luke O’Higgins, BL, on behalf of Mr Chen, put it to Gda O’Connor that the accused man had a complicated upbringing. He was involved in child labour from an early age, has had no formal education or schooling and is therefore completely illiterate.

Mr Chen emigrated from China to the UK in the late 1990s, where he spent some time working in Chinatown in London, before coming to Ireland in 2001 and working. He has owned a number of businesses, mainly Chinese takeaways, which failed, as well as a supermarket, which he opened in Mullingar in 2018 and had to close during the Covid-19 pandemic.

His most recent business is a bubble tea and sushi bar in Mullingar. Before being remanded in custody, he also worked in a bakery in the mornings.

Mr Chen has a wife and step-children in China, and he supports them financially, sending €500 monthly back to his wife. He had to renounce his Chinese citizenship as a result of moving to the UK, the court heard, and has been an Irish citizen since 2008.

A number of victim impact statements were read out in court, detailing the loss suffered by those who were affected.

Dermot Smith who, along with his brother Kevin, is the owner of Grafton Court, said that he “just felt destroyed” when he arrived at the car park that morning to find the building still smoking.

“I felt vulnerable. My world was taken away from me,” he said, stating that “there were far-reaching consequences to the deliberate act of this man”.

The financial loss reached €3m, which he said would be €1,000 every week for the next seven years: “This man cannot pay that. He got away with this crime.”

Numerous other business owners cited extreme professional and personal losses as a result of the fire, and some have been unable to reopen their doors.

Hairdresser, Pauline Belton, told the court that she had run her salon out of the same premises for 24 years and had become a successful, reputable and respected business owner with 15 employees.

She told the court that the fire occurred shortly after the tragic death of her husband, George, who lost his life in a workplace accident.

Ms Belton has been unable to rebuild her business since the blaze. She is crippled by redundancy payments of almost €110,000, and felt more exposed and vulnerable due to the double tragedy inflicted upon her.

“One of the ministers came down to see us. We were promised a package. I got absolutely nothing from that. My staff were given Jobseekers allowance but because I was self-employed in a business that was no longer there, I got nothing,” she said.

“I had nothing coming in my door and nobody seemed to care. That was hard. I was 24 years working. I was the first tenant that the Smiths had. I lost everything.”

The sentence hearing will resume in July, and Mr Chen has been remanded in custody until that date.