A man who set fire to priceless artefacts, including mummies that are 100s of years old, at St. Michan’s Church Dublin will serve no additional jail time after it emerged that he mugged a woman two hours before causing the fire at the church.
Romanian Christian Topiter (40) appeared before the Circuit Criminal Court this afternoon where he was sentenced to one year in jail for robbing a Ukrainian woman of her phone and suitcase in Smithfield, Dublin on the 11th of June 2024.
Prosecuting counsel, Ms. Diane Stuart BL, gave evidence of how the theft took place in circumstances where Topiter approached the woman from right while she was sitting on a bench and said “something in a foreign language that she didn’t understand” before taking her phone and suitcase and running off towards Smithfield Luas stop.
“Everything happened extremely quickly” and the victim was “very shocked”, the court heard. The woman has now returned to Ukraine and did not submit a victim impact statement.
Topiter is currently serving a 6 year jail sentence, imposed by Judge Martin Nolan, for the arson attack on St. Michan’s, with his other convictions consisting of two for possession of drugs and obstruction, and for breaches of the Public Order Act, all of which were dealt with by way of fines.
Defending counsel, Oisin Smith BL, said that his client’s behaviour on the day in question was “quite bizarre” and that when Gardaí arrested him in the aftermath of the arson he was heard saying “something to do with God and Jesus and that he wanted to die in there” he was “somewhat rambling about religious matters” and “wandering aimlessly up Luas track” after stealing the woman’s belongings two hours earlier.
Garda Mitchell said Topitor “appeared to have absolutely no recollection of what happened”, with the court hearing that he has long standing addiction issues stemming from “trauma” he suffered as a child in Romanian caused by his parents and local authorities.
Other than his offending he is a “productive member of society”, Mr. Smith argued.
During his time in Cloverhill Prison, he has completed qualifications including one related to psychology, which he wishes to use to help others in the future, his counsel said.
Judge Pauline Codd noted that Topiter has a long “background as an addict” and set a headline sentence of 18 months before imposing an actual sentence of 12 months which is to run concurrent to his current sentence and starts from today.
She noted that he developed substance abuse problems at a “very early age”.