Teen refused to get out of bed to attend court

Care workers could be accused of assault if they tried to drag him out, children’s court judge told

Care workers were powerless when a youth refused to get out of bed yesterday to face court over a serious assault.

They could be accused of assault if they tried to drag him out, Dublin Children’s Court heard.

It is also alleged that a male staff member at a care home, was once attacked by the 17-year-old armed with a sock containing a heavy bottle of aftershave.

The teenager was due to appear at Dublin Children’s Court yesterday “but would not get out of bed”.

Social workers said the staff in the boy’s current care home had been asking him all morning, but he was “refusing point blank” and stayed in his bed with his door closed.

Judge William Hamill asked a lawyer for Child and Family Agency: “Is he entitled to do that ad infinitum?”

He also noted the teenager is a drug user with a history of going missing from care.

The boy’s social care worker said staff did not have authority to physically take him out because “that is assault”.

Judge Hamill said the alternative was to issue a bench warrant for his arrest; gardaí would then use force to get him to court and the boy could be remanded in custody to a detention centre. He asked would this be good for the teen’s welfare rather than pressuring the boy to get out of his bed like a parent might.

Judge Hamill said, that in the hope that some satisfactory resolution would take place and because the boy is a juvenile, he remanded him on continuing bail in his absence.

However, he warned that if the boy does not turn up for court today, he would issue the bench warrant for his arrest.

At an earlier stage, the court heard that the youth and two younger boys also living in the care home acted together to attack two staff members before stealing a car which was later written off last September.

It has been held that the 17-year-old should face a circuit court trial and a book of evidence is ready to be served on him.

Two other boys are before the juvenile court on later dates in connection with the incident.

The 17-year-old boy is charged with stealing a car from a children’s care home in Dublin on September 3, 2015, after the staff member was attacked.

He is also charged with assault causing harm after using a sock containing a bottle of aftershave in an assault on the care worker.

He also faces additional, connected charges for stealing car keys from the facility and damaging an office door.

Garda Ross Rowan had said at a previous hearing that it was alleged the 17-year-old had a leadership role in the violent incident.