A man who accidentally set fire to a stockroom in a Louis Copeland store, causing nearly €400,000 in damage, has been jailed for 2½ years.
Vaidas Pilibaitis (46) entered the stockroom of the designer menswear store on Pembroke Street, Dublin, in July 2018, and recklessly started a fire while smoking either heroin or a cigarette, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard on Friday.
He suffered smoke inhalation and badly injured his arm while breaking a window to escape the blaze, which started on a cardboard box of shirts, Det Garda Niall O’Reilly told the court.
Pilibaitis was caught after he left his rucksack and his mobile phone at the scene and was seen on CCTV footage, the court heard. He later told gardaí he had no memory of the event.
Pilibaitis, with an address at Carman’s Hall, Dublin 8, pleaded guilty to one count of criminal damage at the shop on July 8th, 2018.
Judge Martin Nolan accepted that Pilibaitis had not intentionally set fire to the shop, but had done so "by his reckless behaviour".
“He could have been incinerated or smothered by smoke,” the judge said.
He sentenced him to 2½ years in prison, noting that it would have been double that if the criminal damage had been intentional.
The court heard that Adrian Copeland, a director of the company, was alerted to an alarm at the Pembroke Street shop on the night in question.
When he arrived, the fire brigade was extinguishing the blaze. The court heard the stockroom was at the back of the shop and could be accessed by a rear laneway door. The stockroom window was broken and there was blood on the wall.
While clearing through debris in the stockroom, Mr Copeland heard a mobile ringing, and discovered Pilibaitis’s rucksack with his phone inside.
Pilibaitis was later tracked down by gardaí in hospital where he underwent surgery to his arm. He told gardaí he had no memory of the events of that night.
Det Garda O’Reilly said gardaí believed Pilibaitis entered the stockroom to seek shelter for the night and that he set fire to the cardboard box while smoking a cigarette or heroin. He then could not see his way out due to the smoke and smashed the window to exit the shop.
“He’s lucky to be alive,” Det Garda O’Reilly told the court. “Very lucky.”
In a victim-impact statement handed in to court, Mr Copeland said the fire caused smoke damage to €390,000 worth of stock. The stockroom had to be repainted and a number of damaged props had to be replaced at a cost of nearly €4,500.
The store had to be closed for about a week while the damage was being repaired, with a further loss to the business.
Séamus Clarke SC, defending, said his client was suffering from a drug addiction and living in homeless accommodation at the time, but has been off heroin for about a year now. The court heard Pilibaitis, who is originally from Lithuania, had 24 previous convictions.
Pilibaitis also pleaded guilty to one count of violent disorder on Dame Street, Dublin, on October 15th, 2018. He will be sentenced for that offence on February 12th.