Man and woman remanded in custody over fatal Waterford arson attack on Saturday, October 17
Cian Stacey, 21, and Jessica Dalton, 31, each face one count of criminal damage and two counts of assault causing serious harm after the fire that killed Kim English, her husband and their sons Callum and Jayden. Both will appear before Waterford District Court on Tuesday.
A man and a woman charged over the arson attack that killed four members of the same family in Waterford have been remanded in custody after a special sitting of Clonmel District Court on Saturday evening.
Cian Stacey, 21, of no fixed address, and Jessica Dalton, 31, of Waterford City, each face one count of criminal damage and two counts of assault causing serious harm. Both were charged at Waterford Garda Station on Saturday afternoon, Stacey at 2.44pm and Dalton at 2.45pm, and neither made any reply when the charges were put to them.
Judge Andrew Gubbins remanded both defendants in custody to appear before Waterford District Court on Tuesday. Dalton will appear in person and Stacey by videolink. No application for bail was made in either case.
An innocent family, preparing for a new day, should have done what they did every day: parents preparing their children for school.Father Gerry Chestnutt, at a prayer vigil in Waterford on Wednesday
Defence solicitor Ciaran Murphy applied for legal aid on behalf of both defendants, telling the court that Dalton is a lone parent who is not in employment. He also asked that Stacey receive medical and psychiatric attention while in custody.
Kim English, her husband and their sons Callum, 12, and Jayden, nine, died in the fire at the family home on Birch Avenue in the Birchwood estate in the early hours of Tuesday, October 13. Emergency services were called to the house at about 5am.
Gardai launched a murder investigation after post-mortem examinations by the State Pathologist, and officers from the Garda Technical Bureau have been examining the scene. Two other children of the family, a 14-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy, remain in critical condition in hospital.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said on Friday that officers had carried out several searches and seized a number of items, that he expected more arrests, and that An Garda Siochana has “given every resource” to investigating the deaths. An incident room has been set up at Waterford Garda Station.
The four victims will be buried after a joint funeral Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Waterford on Monday afternoon, with burial afterwards at Kilbarry Cemetery.
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