Mother: ‘Lock up my little gangster’

A mother begged for her son to be locked up, telling a judge yesterday that the 14-year-old is turning into a "little gangster".

Her son is facing a litany of charges including assault causing harm to a security guard, shoplifting thefts and public order offences, but would not get out of bed to come to his hearing, at the Dublin Children’s Court.

However, his mother turned up and explained to Judge John O’Connor that her family all agree that her son should be sent to a detention centre.

“My family have been saying for a couple of months to put him in custody,” she said. “He is walking around the street and I’m sick of him, I’m a good mother, a caring mother; I love my son,” she said.

“He’s walking around with people who think they are in gangland,” she said, adding, “He’s becoming a little gangster”.

She told the court her son needed to spend some weeks in a detention centre and she suspects he is on drugs. She said she fears “I’ll find him dead”.

“Maybe I’m not explaining myself properly,” she told Judge O’Connor, who reassured her by saying: “You are”.

He then issued a bench warrant for gardaí to arrest the teen and get him back before the court.

The south Dublin teenager faces 12 charges for offences allegedly committed in April and May but has not yet entered a plea.