Longford arson accused unable to ‘understand’ parts of book of evidence

A man accused of a significant arson incident in Longford town in August of last year, which caused over €13m worth of damage and forced the closure of a large number of local businesses, is due to reappear before Longford Circuit Court in July, when a bail application will be lodged.

Guo Zhong Chen (55), of 9 Belvedere Terrace, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, is currently before the courts charged with the arson, which took place on August 9, 2024, and a separate incident of criminal damage to a black Landrover at Townparks, Longford, on July 7, 2024.

He reappeared this morning (Thursday, May 8) before Judge Kenneth Connolly, where it was heard a draft notice of motion and grounding affidavit had been received by the state to move the trial to Dublin Circuit Court.

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The court previously heard that Mr Chen was requesting a relocation of the jury trial due to “adverse media attention”, but Judge Connolly had noted that such applications could not be made until the accused had seen all 60 hours of CCTV footage and read the entire book of evidence.

However, when the case came before the court this morning, it was heard that, while Mr Chen had received the book of evidence translated into Mandarin, he could not understand the entirety of the document.

“I received the book of evidence and I can read some parts, but the other parts I couldn’t understand,” said Mr Chen via a court interpreter. “I was told you would prepare a DVD for me but I haven’t got that yet.”

Further discussion in court revealed that, while Mr Chen understands his native language, he was born in 1970 China when “education was difficult” and he therefore has some difficulty with reading Chinese.

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Christina Burke BL, for the accused outlined to the court that the defence team were in the process of providing an audio translation of the relevant parts of the book, with a documentary junior singling out the bits Mr Chen needed.

“I’m about to get cranky with the documentary junior because I gave a direction that documentation should be prepared three weeks prior to today,” he said.

He noted the affidavit had been prepared but said that, in such circumstances, he would usually consider withdrawing the legal aid for a documentary junior.

Ms Burke assured the court that the work was in progress and the audio translation with headphones would be delivered to the prison for Mr Chen ahead of the next sittings of Longford Court in July.

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She also indicated that a bail application would be made on behalf of her client in July due to difficulties he’s having with medical issues while incarcerated.

Judge Connolly stressed that the state should be on notice of any bail application three weeks prior to the next court date, stating “I will not hear it otherwise”.

He remanded Mr Chen in custody to reappear on July 15 at 10.30am for a pre-trial hearing with regard to the relocation of the trial, as well as a bail hearing.

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