Burglar pleads guilty to arson of cocktail bar

By Niamh O’Donoghue

A burglar who pleaded guilty to arson at a well-known Dublin city cocktail bar has been jailed at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Craig Johnson (37), of no fixed abode, was sent forward from Dublin District Court on signed pleas and pleaded guilty to arson and burglary at Peruke and Periwig, Dawson Street on September 19, 2025.

Johnson also pleaded guilty to a burglary the next day at Adams Auctioneers on St. Stephen’s Green on September 20, 2025, but did not take anything because “there weren’t any antiques he was interested in taking”. He has 83 previous convictions and was on bail at the time.

Judge Elma Sheahan handed down a six-year sentence with the final 18 months suspended.

The court heard there was €23,323 damage done to the basement of Peruke and Periwig, to the room and the electrics. Only one bottle out of the three bottles of alcohol taken was not recovered.

When interviewed initially, Johnson “was exercising his right to silence” but later told gardai “you can clearly see it’s me” and “I told you I did it”.

Detective Garda Frank Kennedy agreed under cross-examination that Johnson did not set fire to the property – it was caused by a spark and was “reckless”. The damage caused a spark, the court heard today.

“We believe it was an electrical fire”, Det Gda Kennedy told the court.

Det Gda Kennedy told Brian Storan BL, prosecuting, that in the burglary at Adams Auctioneers the window was broken but nothing was taken. “There weren’t any antiques he was interested in taking?” asked Mr Storan to which the garda replied: “No”.

Johnson further pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen racer bicycle at Mercer Street, Dublin 2 on September 23, 2025.

In the possession of a stolen bicycle incident on September 23 last, staff in the Department of An Taoiseach monitoring the cameras called gardai and they arrested the accused. The bike was never reported missing, and the owner was never traced. There were no victim impact statements before the court in relation to any of the offences.

In a plea of mitigation, Johnson’s defence counsel said his client was a drug addict who was homeless and was sleeping in a tent at the time of the offences. He now has clean urines and wants to undergo a drug rehabilitation course.

Judge Sheahan handed down a six-year sentence and suspended the final 18 months of it for a period of 18 months and backdated to September last for time spent in custody.

The judge noted there was “no suggestion he set fire to the premises himself” and a spark had caused it.  She said it is appropriate, given he has made efforts for him to deal with his addiction problems. She ordered him to use the suspended portion of his sentence to take up a place in a residential treatment programme.