Front door of home to three children ’engulfed’ in fire after petrol bomb, court hears - Courts News Ireland

A woman has told a court how the front door of her house was “engulfed in smoke and fire’” when her ex-fiancé threw an improvised petrol bomb in the early hours of the morning a year ago. Ellen Maughan was giving evidence at Castlebar Circuit Court during the trial of Eamon Maughan (28). Mr Maughan, of Castlegrove, Castlebar, denies two charges of

A woman has told a court how the front door of her house was “engulfed in smoke and fire’” when her ex-fiancé threw an improvised petrol bomb in the early hours of the morning a year ago.

Ellen Maughan was giving evidence at Castlebar Circuit Court during the trial of Eamon Maughan (28).

Mr Maughan, of Castlegrove, Castlebar, denies two charges of arson and threatening to kill or cause serious harm to Mrs Maughan in the estate where they both lived on October 29, 2025.

Ellen Maughan told the court that she had been engaged to the accused man seven or eight years previously and that he “didn’t take it too well’” when she broke up with him.

She told Patrick Reynolds BL, prosecuting, that she was at home with her three small children when she was woken at around 3am by two large bangs.

She said when she pulled back the curtains of her bedroom, she saw Eamon Maughan running down the front steps having thrown what looked like a petrol bomb at her front door.

Mrs Maughan said when she opened the front door it was on fire and “the whole hallway and front door had become engulfed in smoke and fire.”

She said there were Halloween decorations hanging on the door which had also caught fire.

She said she ran into her kitchen and started filling pots with water and throwing it at the door, managing to bring the fire under control while trying to hold back her three sons, all aged under five, from coming close to the fire.

She said she rang 999 and by the time the fire service and guards arrived, she had managed to quench the fire. She then left the house with her children, escorted by gardaí, to stay with in-laws.

The court heard the following morning, Mrs Maughan returned to her house at about 7am with her husband and children to find the accused man standing at the top of the steps shouting abuse.

‘To my knowledge he was intoxicated with drink and drugs,’ she said, describing threats allegedly made by Mr Maughan.

‘He said “I will burn ye out”, and started looking for a fight with my husband,’ said Mrs Maughan, who said she ran into her house, locked the door and called the guards.

Under cross-examination from the defence, Mrs Maughan said there had been “a fair bit of smoke – enough to set off the fire alarms”.

When asked why she hadn’t told the guards about the Halloween decorations going on fire or seeing the accused running away, Mrs Maughan said she had been traumatised and in a “frantic, hysterical state” at the time.

“My children were nearly murdered so I was in a state of shock. I’m still not recovered from it; it has affected my mental health,” she told the court.

Fergal McMorrow BL, defending, said it wasn’t sufficient to say she had been in shock and that the narrative she provided in court had “about a hundred more legs” than her statement to gardaí.

The trial continues before Judge Eoin Garavan and a jury of seven men and five women.