Joyriding teens rammed gardaí twice before capture

Two youngsters, aged 17 and 15, evaded capture in a stolen car for nearly five hours speeding on roads around Cork City. They rammed a Garda car twice before being arrested.

The youths’ lengthy escapade eventually ended when they crashed the stolen car while travelling on a rural road.

Gardaí were alerted about the theft of the vehicle from Charleville, Co Cork, at around 8am on Sunday.

Patrol cars in the region had been alerted and the stolen vehicle was later spotted around Cork City.

Sightings were then made of it returning towards Mallow on the N20 and Garda vehicles responded.

At around 12pm, a Garda patrol car came across the stolen car at the Quartertown Industrial Estate in Mallow. However, instead of stopping, the youths rammed the Garda patrol car twice and sped off.

According to Superintendent Pat McCarthy, the car was later spotted several miles away near the town of Newmarket.

Garda patrols continued to search for the vehicle, which was found crashed around an hour later on a back road between Ballyhea and Charleville.

Supt McCarthy said the youths were being questioned yesterday under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

Detectives were questioning them about the unauthorised taking of a vehicle and on suspicion of burglary. Supt McCarthy said it was fortunate that gardaí in the rammed patrol car did not suffer injuries.

He also said the youths were very lucky not to have seriously injured themselves when the crashed the vehicle at Ballypierce, Charleville, as the car they had been travelling in was extensively damaged.