Girl, 14, on acid during ‘savage’ attack in Dublin

A then 14-year-old girl was on acid when she took part in a “savage” Dublin city-centre gang mugging of a man who was beaten unconscious, a court heard.

The girl, now 15, pleaded guilty at the Dublin Children’s Court to her role in the robbery of the Chinese national, aged 28, at Liffey St in the early hours of July 10 last and was remanded on bail for sentencing.

She is one of seven young people who had been charged; unlike most of them, the juvenile court accepted jurisdiction for her case due to her age, plea of guilty and lack of prior criminal convictions.

The CCTV evidence shows a pack of teens, including five boys, surrounding the man who was repeatedly punched, kicked and kneed. They ripped his shirt off him before he was pulled to the ground where kicks rained down on his head and body.

A final blow to the back of his head saw him knocked out, flat on his back and left lying on the street motionless.

Judge O’Connor has said: “I have seen that video on a number of occasions and each time I am equally shocked.” He described it as “absolutely savage” and as “gang mentality of its worst kind”.

The girl’s father came to court with her and he was in tears as he watched the footage of his daughter and the gang. She was the first to approach the victim and appeared to hug him before the beating took place. At the end of the ordeal, she flung his shoe at him as the gang ran off.

Judge O’Connor asked the Probation Service to furnish the court with a pre-sentence report on the girl who could face a custodial sentence.

In July, she spent a week in custody on remand after her family refused to take her home. Her father had said there has been problems with her behaviour for the past two years and that he has been “battling to keep her off the streets”. The upset man explained that he spent nights searching the city for his daughter whom he said hangs around with older youths and men, and also takes drugs.

He said at one point these people attacked him when he tried to bring her home and he was put in danger.

He said her schooling has became “non-existent” and he tried to get her help and drug counselling from social services. However, he had added, she kept “running the streets” and was not safe.