A man was today refused bail and remanded in custody over an arson attack on a house in Derry at the weekend which claimed the lives of three family pet dogs.
Conor Lishman, of Eastway Gardens in Creggan, was charged at Derry Magistrates’ Court with three counts of criminal damage to three dogs and a charge of arson with intent to endanger life of a house at Meadowview Crescent in Derry on Sunday, June 16.
The 36-year-old was further charged with assaulting three police officers and entering a house in Osborne Street as a trespasser again on the same date.
Opposing Lishman being released on court bail, an investigating PSNI said she could connect the accused to the charges.
Police were called by the NI Fire and Rescue Service to a blaze at a house in Meadowview Crescent occupied by a woman, her four children and their three dogs.
She was captured on CCTV leaving the house and a little later a male wearing a white hoodie left the house and then smoke and flames could be seen coming from the property.
The male was said to have white powder around his mouth.
When the defendant was arrested he was said to have become violent and had to be restrained after he assaulted three police officers.
The court heard that three dogs tragically died in the fire and the woman who owned them had been left “quite distressed”.
Lishman has 108 previous convictions and bail was opposed due to the serious nature of the charges.
The court heard there was a “lot of anger” in the local area which raised fears over the defendant’s safety if freed on bail.
District Judge Barney McElholm said that it was “an extremely serious matter” and refused bail.
Lishman will appear in court on Thursday, July 11.
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