GARDAI hunting the arsonist who torched a car belonging to a colleague have made a breakthrough in their investigation.
Officers recovered a lighter dropped at the scene as the arsonist made his getaway.
They are now confident that both DNA and fingerprints will be recovered from the item, dropped after community Garda Damian O’Connor’s car was set alight in the early hours of Sunday morning.
They are also tracing the shop where the lighter was sold and are hopeful of obtaining CCTV images which will identify the arsonist.
Detectives describe the incident as ‘highly unusual’ for Donegal, although there have been attacks on the private cars of Gardai in Leitrim last year.
Gda O’Connor has also been inundated with messages of support from the local community since Donegal Daily broke news of the incident on Sunday.
Cllr Michael McBride, whose late father was a sergeant at the Kilmacrennan station, called today on anyone with information to give it to Gardai.
“Anyone who is prepared to burn a car outside a Garda station knowing it belongs to a community Garda is capable of anything,” he warned.
“It is essential that whoever was responsible is caught before he does something like this again.”
And he warned: “When the person responsible is brought before the courts, he must be given a proper sentence.”
Kilmacrennan, he said, had suffered at the hands of criminals in recent months and the community had had enough.
Oil thefts, burglaries and another arson attack in Ballyheerin last Saturday were just the latest incidents, he added.
Gardai today re-issued their earlier appeal for information on the incident.
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