AN IRISHMAN dubbed a 'slum landlord' has been found guilty over a college fire which killed two Irish students in Belgium in 2014.
Malachy Vallely, the owner and director of the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe, was found guilty by a court in Belgium on Tuesday, September 5.
Malachy Vallely. (Picture: RTÉ)Students Dace Zarina, 22 from Co. Longford, and Sara Gibadlo, 19 from Co. Galway, died in the early morning fire on January 31 2014.
The young women were on a placement at the Leuven Institute as part of a business degree in catering and hotel management from Galway Mayo Institute of Technology.
Vallely was given a one-year jail term, suspended, and was fined €6,000, but was not present when the verdict was delivered by a panel of three judges, according to RTÉ.
The court also found the Institute criminally responsible for the deaths of the young women, and fined them €60,000.
An Irish student, Shane Bracken, was also found guilty of causing involuntary death due to lack of due caution, and was given a three-month suspended sentence and fined €600.
At a previous hearing in June, lawyers for the two families argued that it was Bracken's cigarette which had caused the blaze.
A hearing will take place in November in Leuven during which the families may take civil proceedings against Vallely and the Institute through the Belgian system.
While eight students escaped, Ms Zarina and Ms Gibadlo, were both asleep in a shared room when the fire broke out at 6am, and were later found dead in an adjoining bathroom.
During the hearing in June, prosecutors described Vallely as a "slum landlord" and said both he and the institute were guilty of neglect.
The court concluded that some of the rooms were 'virtually uninhabitable' and smoke alarms were absent while some fire extinguishers were empty or absent.
Ms Zarina's parents, Sanita and Vadislav, and Ms Gibadlo's parents Joe and Gosha, and her sister Maggie, were all in attendance at the verdict at Leuven Correctional Court.
Their Irish solicitor Colin Lynch was given a 30-page written verdict in Flemish which he will translate and study.
Speaking outside the court, Mr Lynch said that the families are only now getting an understanding of the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
Belgian lawyers representing the families described Vallely's sentence as "harsh", saying that neither he nor the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe had shown any remorse.
According to a brief summary of the verdict by Mr Lynch, the court said both Vallely and the institute were guilty of "multiple breaches" of fire and building safety regulations.
Lawyers regarded Bracken's sentence as more lenient since he had expressed remorse for what happened.
It is understood the court strongly rejected any notion that the two women had not responded quickly enough because of alcohol consumption, a claim made by lawyers representing both Vallely and the institute during the hearing in June.
Both Vallely and the Institute have 30 days in which to appeal.
