Dublin family ‘hanging onto life’ after horror arson attack trauma & reveal ‘torture’ torched flat return fears

A FAMILY whose home was torched in a vicious arson attack fear they may be forced to return to the flat once it is repaired.

And dad Jordan Wade, 32, told us: “We are hanging onto life at the moment.”

Mum Katie Chalk, 26, partner Jordan and their four kids are currently in temporary accommodation following the attack on their flat on James’s Street, Dublin 8, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Their flat in Mary Aikenhead House was doused in petrol before being set alight.

Sources told The Irish Sun that the attack is being treated as a case of mistaken identity, and that the family are completely innocent.

Katie and Jordan were sleeping in the same room of the one-bedroom flat with their four kids Pamela, seven, Lila, three, Jordan, two, and Mary Kate, one, when the attack was carried out.

Speaking to The Irish Sun, traumatised Jordan explained: “We are hanging on to life at the moment, with constant waves of emotions passing minute by minute, hour by hour.

“We are like ghosts wandering around, just totally disconnected, shocked and still can’t wrap our heads around this situation.”

“The kids are all over the place, they’re not eating, our oldest has completely shut down and it was her birthday on Wednesday.

“We tried to make it as normal as possible but mammy and myself keep breaking down because it’s so bad right now.”

He continued: “We have our non-verbal son’s birthday today (Thursday) and we can’t even do anything because everybody is so distraught.

“We don’t have any of the new sensory toys or the football kit we got for him, with all our clothes and toys destroyed by the fire.”

“We haven’t slept since the incident, only the odd hour here and there; we actually still haven’t had a chance to process everything because the kids are that badly out of routine.

‘STUCK IN FIGHT OR FLIGHT’

“They’re making basic tasks next to impossible, even trying to feed the kids or get any proper rest for them is impossible in our temporary living situation.

“It has been the early hours of the morning by the time we’re getting them settled, only to have one of them disturbed and everyone is awake again.

“The body is still stuck in fight or flight mode and dealing with calls from the council and TDs from morning until day close.

“It has just pulled us emotionally in every direction at the same time.”

The young dad continued: “We are in a one-room temporary accommodation which is not suitable in any way.

“The kids have been rolling out of the beds where we normally have side guards to keep them in their beds.

ACCOMMODATION ‘NOT SUITABLE’

“They can open the door and run out the front and it’s a steep stair drop outside, so we need to block the door up at night time with a pram so they can’t escape.

“We needed to move the beds away from windows as they can climb up.

“The situation is like something from a fiction book, the fire alarm keeps going off in the building because of people cooking in rooms.

“Yesterday, they had to have an emergency evacuation because of this  and the effect it is having on us is detrimental.

“We aren’t eating and haven’t even been able to go to the toilet since because the body is in a state of confusion.”

Jordan said that the staff at their temporary accommodation are trying their best in challenging circumstances.

Maire Devine, Sinn Fein TD for Dublin South-Central, said the family have been told they may have to move back into the burnt-out one-bed flat after repairs are made.

Devine told us she and the family are firmly against this, as it would be traumatic to force their children to live at the scene of the fire.

She added: “It’s a family that’s been coping under a lot of stress anyway, in an unacceptable, tiny flat with six people living there.”

Máire Devine, Sinn Fein TD for Dublin South-Central, told us that the family is still extremely distressed after the shocking incident.

We have our non-verbal son’s birthday today and we can’t even do anything because everybody is so distraughtJordan Wade

Devine said: “The children are disturbed, they’re distressed. The lack of sleep, they’re falling out of beds, they’re crying. They don’t understand a lot of what’s gone on.

“One of them is a kid with special needs, and Jordan himself has got medical issues.

“It’s a family that’s been coping under a lot of stress anyway, in an unacceptable, tiny flat with six people living there.”

The TD said the family have been told they may have to move back into the burnt-out one-bed after the damage has been repaired.

Devine told us that she and the family are firmly against this, as it would be traumatic to force their children to live at the scene of the fire which injured their eldest daughter Pamela.

She suffered third-degree burns to her feet while dad Jordan suffered third-degree burns to his left side while carrying his children out of their burning home.

The flat is currently boarded up with serious damage to the area around the front door.

RETURN NOT ACCEPTABLE

Devine described the “horror” of a family-of-six being forced to live in a one-bedroom flat and added that their medical needs made the situation even worse.

Opening up on their previous living situation, the 32-year-old added: “It’s against human rights to have us in the one-bedroom flat that’s so overcrowded.

“It already has a list of maintenance issues which Dublin City Council have never amended.

“There was not enough rooms per person, also not enough cubic capacity for air; if you check the overcrowding legal rights as it is, without all of the effects we have to deal with from the trauma of the fire.

“It’s like a torture case to see how far a family can be stretched in all directions before rolling over and giving up.”

“It’s so cruel and messed up in every way possible to have lost almost all faith in our already struggling system.”