Four men have appeared in court on charges connected to an arson attack at a house in Athlone, Co Westmeath, yesterday morning.
The men have all been remanded in custody to appear in court again next Tuesday.
Patrick Kelly, 29, of Woodlands Grove in Athlone was charged with criminal damage.
He was also charged, under Section 5 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, with threatening to kill someone.
William O'Neill, 19, of Meadowbrook, Willow Park, Athlone, PJ O'Neill, 38, of Battery Heights in Athlone, and Raymond O'Neill, 44, also of Meadowbrook, Willow Park, have all been charged with arson under Section 2 of the Criminal Damage Act.
The men were arrested after a window was broken at a house in the Battery Heights area in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The residents of the house were allegedly threatened with a firearm.
The arrests also followed the petrol bombing of a house in the Woodland Grove estate in Athlone several hours later.
A mother and her young child narrowly escaped injury after the house caught fire. They were rescued by gardaí who were called to the scene.
At Birr District Court this afternoon, Judge Michael Reilly remanded the men in custody to Cloverhill Prison.
