A thug repeatedly threatened to set a hitchhiker on fire after pulling out a plastic bottle full of petrol in his car. Brian Joyce, 31, subjected John Hourihan to the torment after picking up the stranger in his 171 CE Volkswagen Golf when Mr Hourihan had been hitchhiking at a roadside. The row, which happened in front of Joyce's pregnant partner, their children; aged seven and nine, and the family's two puppy dogs , saw Joyce threaten to burn the man if he didn't pay for fuel. Mr Hourihan's claims he had offered to contribute for petrol money were disputed by Joyce's lawyers in court. However, the defendant pleaded guilty to threatening to kill or cause serious harm and was jailed on Tuesday at Ennis Circuit Court in County Clare, Ireland. Judge Francis Comerford imposed a 53-month prison term , suspending the final 12 months. He said Joyce made "rational, repeated and highly credible threats to harm a perfect stranger" in "terrifying circumstances" by pulling out the Powerade bottle, full of petrol, and threatening to harm Mr Hourihan. Amy O’Connor, for the police, told the court Mr Hourihan lunged forward and managed to snatch the bottle from Joyce and demanded the car be stopped. The vehicle came to a halt on the N85 near Ennistymon, County Clare, and Mr Hourihan got out before the silver Golf drove off. But the court heard the car came back down the road, and so Mr Hourihan used his mobile phpone to take photos of Joyce and his partner in the car. The hitchiker alerted police to his encounter and Joyce’s DNA was eventually taken from the Powerade bottle, reports the Irish Mirror . Judge Comerford said that there was no explanation for Joyce having the bottle of petrol in the car on August 13, 2024. Joyce has been on remand in custody since then and his barrister, Amy Nix BL, said her client missed the birth of his third child while in jail. His prison sentence has been backdated to include the time he has already served behind bars. The judge, though, had heard the dad, from Ennis, County Clare, has a number of previous convictions including one for causing serious harm, where he attacked a young person with blades causing 200 stitches. In a letter of apology, Mr Joyce said that "I know my apology is a drop in the ocean when compared to how I must have made him feel". He said: "I am deeply, deeply ashamed and remorseful of what I did and I regret it with all my heart. During my time in custody I have huge realisations about how serious words can be. I made the remark with no intention behind it but I can see how it was perceived."