Jail sentence for teenager after two-month rampage

LUKE FRAHER was back in the care of the State last night.

It’s not the first time he has seen the inside of St Patrick’s Institution. Just 19, his troubled life has brought him into constant contact with the law. He already has 18 convictions.

Yesterday, he added to that tally after pleading guilty at Dungarvan District Court to a series of offences including larceny, burglary, forgery and criminal damage committed during a two month rampage.

However, the real tragedy of Luke Fraher’s traumatic story unfolded after Inspector Tom O’Grady outlined details of the offences committed during May and June.

His solicitor, Niall King, told the court his client’s life had fallen apart in the last two years.

He said Fraher, who lives at Lismore Avenue in Dungarvan, is already a chronic alcoholic who has been hospitalised for treatment to his liver which has been damaged as a result of his excess consumption of alcohol: “Two years ago his young child died. Last year his partner and the mother of his child died from a brain haemorrhage.

“His is a tragic story - a story of a teenager who has suffered immense trauma in his young life, who has also had to try and cope with the psychological impact of the tragedies that have befallen him.”

Mr King said his client accepts that further severe penalties now await him but he is genuinely hoping that he can, in time, sort himself and his life out.

“To his credit’’, he added, ”it has to be stated that at all times the defendant has fully co-operated with the gardaí’’.

Judge David Riordan imposed terms of detention varying from two to six months. Most of them were concurrent sentences totalling eight months.

The Judge also directed that Fraher be given whatever assessments and treatment are available in St. Patrick’s Institution.