Boy, 15, stabbed student and tried to hijack car, court told

A 15-year-old boy stabbed a college student in the back with a broken bottle and then tried to hijack a car by punching the driver repeatedly in the face, shortly after the victim had collected his pregnant wife.

Detective Garda James Bugler testified at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday that the teenager, who cannot be named, appeared to have been on a crime spree in the Bishopstown area of Cork in the early hours of Jun 6.

Judge Patrick J Moran described the defendant as a “wild young man”.

Between 7am and 8am, the court was told, the boy entered a house and stole a bottle of gin and the car keys. As he tried to drive away in the car parked outside, he crashed it. He was observed by a neighbour and decided to walk away.

Shortly afterwards, a CIT student was walking to college and saw the teenager in a drunken condition in the housing estate. The youth confronted him, smashing the bottle and waving jagged glass at him. When the student went to walk away, the teenager stabbed him in the back with the bottle.

In another incident, the boy jumped in front of a passing car which stopped suddenly to avoid a collision. The youth went around to the side of the car, opened the door, punched the man repeatedly in the face in what appeared to be an attempted hijacking. He gave up on this effort and slammed the door closed, catching the driver’s finger.

When the gardaí arrived to arrest the teenager, he resisted violently and had to be pepper-sprayed.

The defendant, who is now aged 16, had 10 previous assault convictions.

Judge Moran imposed a two-year jail sentence with the second year suspended.

Donal O’Sullivan, defending, said the defendant had an addiction problem and was very young.