An Irish army chaplain has hugged and forgiven a teenage boy who repeatedly stabbed him with a hunting knife in an attempted murder last year.
Fr Paul Murphy was stabbed seven times during the attack at Renmore Barracks in Galway on August 15.
The priest was assaulted by the teenage boy, then aged 16 but now aged 17, while he was attempting to drive into the barracks at around 10.35pm.
The boy, who cannot be identified because of his age, pleaded guilty to attempted murder over the incident on February 10.
He had been arrested at the scene after being restrained by members of the Defence Forces who had previously fired warning shots.
Fr Murphy, a native of Waterford but who lived at the barracks, has been an army chaplain since 2013 and has completed five overseas placements with the Defence Forces – in Syria and Lebanon – and is also due to commence a sixth tour.
The court heard that Irish police believed at the time of the attack the boy held a “radicalised Islamist mindset” and analysis of seized devices showed content that supported the so-called Islamic State terrorist group.
The attack was not considered to be specifically targeted against Fr Murphy.
The court heard that the boy told gardai under caution for a charge of assault causing harm: “I did it in protest of the Irish Defence Forces and their work in Mali and all the stuff for Islam.”
The court was shown CCTV footage of the boy arriving at the gate of the barracks on the night of the attack, and was told that Fr Murphy’s car was the first to arrive subsequently.
The boy approached the car, Judge Paul McDermott heard, and said: “Excuse me sir, do you have a minute to talk to me?”
Fr Murphy then partially rolled down the window before the boy lunged at him and began stabbing at his arms with a hunting knife that had an eight-inch serrated blade, which had been delivered to his home in November 2023 after an online purchase.
The priest drove through the gates in his bid to escape the “piercing knife” and struggled to fend off his attacker.
Det Sgt McNulty said the CCTV shows that the boy moving with the car as if he was holding on to it as it drove into the barracks where he continued to stab at the priest before being restrained by the Defence Forces.
The court heard “there was blood everywhere”, mainly coming from Fr Murphy’s arms.
Detective Sergeant Paul McNulty, of Galway Garda Station, said: “It was a totally indiscriminate attack and it could have been any member of the Defence Forces.”
Fr Murphy gave a victim impact statement at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court on Thursday ahead of the boy’s sentencing.
He was accompanied by gardai, members of the Defence Forces and two of his brothers.
The priest said he can remember every “gory detail” of the attempted murder, but said he was thankful that it was him who was attacked and not another member of the Defence Forces.
Fr Murphy said news reports of the attack around the world were like watching his own funeral or reading his own obituary, adding that one angle suggested he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
However, he said: “If it wasn’t me it would have been someone else, and I am convinced, without a shadow of a doubt, that I was the right person, in the right place, at the right time – that night was filled with blessings.”
He added: “I thank God every single day that the knife tore through my skin, and not through the body of one of my comrades.
“I consider it an honour and a privilege to carry those scars until my dying day.”
The parents of the boy, who turns 18 in November, were present in court and the mother offered comfort to him during the victim impact statement.
Addressing the teenager, Fr Murphy said: “As a man of faith, I am in the business of forgiveness, and I offer to you, the young man standing accused before me, the forgiveness that will hopefully help you to become a better person.”
He added: “My hope and prayer is that you will use whatever resources are put at your disposal, in prison or beyond, to learn a better way of living and that you will use your energy and your talents to make our world a better place for all people to live.
“Life is for living and for loving, and, I promise you, your life will find its ultimate joy when you live honourably and love generously.”
During the victim impact statement, Fr Murphy turned around to face the teenager who told him: “I’m sorry.”
Fr Murphy added: “Your Honour, we all have to take responsibility for our actions and while I can personally forgive my attacker the fact remains that he has committed an appalling crime.
“He has offended our State, he has offended the Irish Defence Forces and he has offended every soldier who has walked through the gate of our barracks, because it could have been any one of them who was stabbed.
“Every crime warrants an appropriate punishment and every sentence should serve as a deterrent to others from perpetrating similar crimes.
“It falls to you to give sentence in this case and, assuming that it will be custodial, length of years is not what interests me.
“My only desire is that the young man before you would learn to see the error of his ways and, when the time comes, return to society to make a positive contribution to the world as a wholesome, happy and loving person.”
At the end of Thursday’s proceedings, Fr Murphy shook the boy’s hand and they exchanged words before hugging.
The priest also thanked all those who had assisted him after the attack.
Fr Murphy said he had “divine top cover” and “excellent ground cover too” from the Defence Forces personnel at the barracks.
“I was going nowhere that night.”
Fr Murphy’s seven stab wounds have left him with scarring and reduced function in his hand, including causing him difficulty to carry out certain movements and to firmly grip large objects.
In terms of a mental impact, Fr Murphy is finding himself to be more vigilant and is undergoing counselling from a fellow priest who is also a psychotherapist.
“The attack on me wasn’t personal so I don’t feel particularly vulnerable, but, with good reason, I cannot rule it out from happening again.
“Sometimes, when one man fails in a mission, another takes up the mantle and, with that in mind, I will probably never fully feel free.”
Earlier, Det Sgt McNulty said the boy had completed Transition Year in secondary school at the time of the incident and was due to commence Fifth Year following the offence.
The court heard he was also in employment at the time.
He had no previous convictions and was not known to Irish police, An Garda Siochana.
Under a search warrant for the home, gardai also obtained a poster with “Arabic writing” stating “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “God is great”, as well as an IS flag.
Det Sgt McNulty said they also discovered a notebook with some writing and graphic sketches depicting beheadings, although the boy denied the sketches were his during interview.
The court heard the boy said he converted to Islam at age 15 and regularly attended Friday prayers at a mosque.
Some of the content on electronic devices included “particularly graphic” material including videos of beheadings and other acts of extreme violence.
There was “various propaganda” and material relating to Mohammed Emwazi, a British IS militant known by the press as Jihadi John.
Det Sgt McNulty said the boy had apologised to the victim, and said he did not realise he was a priest.
Under questioning from prosecuting barrister Michael Delaney SC, the detective sergeant told the court that the boy’s parents had separated in 2023.
Under questioning from the boy’s defence barrister Sean Gillane, the detective sergeant said the marriage breakdown caused difficulty for the teenager.
Mr Gillane said “trouble began to bubble up” in terms of the boys mental situation during the course of 2023 and in 2024.
He said the boy began to become isolated and had engaged with others online where the boy was vulnerable to “increasing radicalisation and a poisoning of his belief system”.
He also said the boy had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which included rigidity of thinking, fixated thinking, and impulsive action.
Mr Gillane said this did not excuse his actions but could help in effort to understand the “tributaries” that fed into the incident.
He said this led to the “catastrophic decision” to engage in the “utterly misconceived” attempt at revenge at the Irish Defence Forces.
Mr Gillane said the boy had also shown remorse for what he had done and was doing everything he can to improve his situation while in a youth detention centre.
The court later heard the boys parents both love him, have attended court, and are positive influences.
Mr Gillane called for leniency in the sentence.
Judge McDermott said he would deliver the sentence on April 29. The boy was remanded at Oberstown child detention centre.
He said he would consider the statement, as well as a psychological assessment, a probation report, and a report from Oberstown in the interim.
