A restaurateur has been jailed for nine years for an arson attack causing over €3m worth of damage to a busy shopping street in Longford two years ago.Chinese national Guo Zhong Chen (57), with an address at Belvedere Terrace, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, appeared before Judge Kenneth Connolly at Longford Circuit Court, where, in a letter of apology, he admitted setting fire to a rival business was a “stupid and foolish thing to do”.He was given a headline prison sentence of 14 years, which was mitigated to ten years and six months, with the final 18 months suspended.Chen’s level of culpability was “very high indeed”, the judge said, though he accepted there was “less malice than might be present in a domestic residential situation where one intentionally sets fire to a house, knowing there are occupants in it”.“But this is still a crime of spite and revenge, given the context that informed it.” Screengrab Longford Fire for video tile In a letter of apology, Chen stated he had opened a sushi and bubble tea business in Mullingar in 2022, where he struck up a business relationship with a woman, whom he trained, and who he said was “an invaluable part of the business” as his “grasp of the English language is poor”.The woman was “an asset” to him and, when she informed him she was leaving the business, he “implored" her not to do so, “to no avail”. He said he felt taken advantage of and acknowledged he was wrong to feel that way.“I wanted to frighten and scare her. In hindsight, I see it was a foolish and stupid thing to do.” He apologised to business owners, Gardaí and emergency services, and all the people of Longford, as well as his former business partner.“I am forever ashamed and humiliated by my actions,” he said. In October of last year, Chen pleaded guilty to arson on July 28th, 2024, in the Grafton Court Complex of Longford town. The blaze saw the closure of 19 businesses, causing €3.5m worth of damage. Some of those businesses never reopened, the court heard.At the sentence hearing, Garda Shane O’Connor outlined to the court how the fire started in the gated laneway adjacent to Oyama Sushi in Grafton Court and spread across a number of businesses causing substantial damage but, mercifully, no injuries.Extensive CCTV footage tracked Chen from Austin Friar Street in Mullingar, into Longford town via the N4, and ultimately back to Mullingar via Edgeworthstown and then Ballymahon. Chen was arrested on August 8th, 2024, and denied any involvement in the fire.A total of 19 businesses were affected, with 11 of those providing victim impact statements, including the proprietors of the sushi restaurant.Michael O’Higgins SC, mitigating on behalf of Chen, told the court that his client had a complicated upbringing. He was involved in child labour from an early age, has had no formal education or schooling and is therefore completely illiterate.Chen emigrated from China to the UK in the late 90s, where he spent some time working in London’s Chinatown, before coming to Ireland in 2001 and working. He has owned a number of businesses, mainly Chinese takeaways, which failed, as well as a supermarket, which he opened in Mullingar in 2018 and had to close during the Covid-19 pandemic.His most recent business is the bubble tea and sushi bar in Mullingar. Before being remanded in custody, he also worked in a bakery in the mornings.Chen has a wife and step children back in China, and he supported them financially, sending money back every month. He had to renounce his Chinese citizenship as a result of moving to the UK, the court heard, and has been an Irish citizen since 2008.