Boy, 17, gets 4-month term for dealing heroin

A 17-year-old boy has been given a four-month sentence after he was arrested for heroin dealing.

The teenager pleaded guilty at the Dublin Children’s Court to a charge of possessing heroin worth €280 for the purpose of sale or supply at Longdale Terrace in Ballymun on June 23 last.

Judge John O’Connor heard the teenager had 14 individual deals of heroin on him along with €365 in cash.

The repeat teen offender also pleaded guilty to public order charges for threatening behaviour and being intoxicated to such an extent he was a danger to himself and others, which happened on Sunday last.

The boy, who has numerous previous convictions and who has already served sentences in juvenile detention centres, wanted his case finalised the court heard.

Judge O’Connor was also furnished with a probation report on the youth, who was accompanied to court by his mother and his lawyer.

The Dublin teenager has been coming before juvenile court for the past three years for offences committed after he dropped out of school.

In 2013, the court heard he once swallowed a bag of suspected heroin in a bid to hamper a drug search.

By then he already had numerous prior convictions including two for drug dealing.