Teenager sentenced to eight years for chaplain attack

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

An unnamed teenager was sentenced to eight years’ detention for attempting to murder Army chaplain Fr Paul Murphy at the Central Criminal Court, on 29 April 2025.

The attack took place at Renmore Barracks in Galway on 15 August 2024, when the boy stabbed Murphy with a hunting knife.

The Irish Times reported that the judge set a 20-year headline sentence, reduced to 10 years for the teenager’s age, immaturity, guilty plea and remorse, with the final two years suspended for three years.