Parents' alcoholism forced teenager onto streets, court hears

A teenage boy spent years living on the streets of Dublin after he left home to escape from his alcoholic parents, a court heard today.

The boy, now aged 17, had lived on the streets after fleeing from his parents and then developed an addiction to heroin. He had "slipped through the system" and social services had difficulties in trying to help him because he was living rough, the Dublin Children’s Court heard.

He was detained for two months yesterday by Judge Angela Ni for a litany of petty crimes committed while he was living rough.

From the age of 13 the boy had "slipped through the system" fled to the streets to get away from his turbulent home life which had been devastated by his parents’ alcoholism.

However while on the streets he too developed a drinking problem which led to him becoming a heroin addict and due to his itinerant lifestyle social services had difficulty in finding him on the streets of Dublin.

Prosecuting Garda Emer Lamont, Bridewell Station, outlined to the court how the boy had been involved in a litany of petty street crimes. She accepted that the boy’s offending was linked to his troubled background and the drink and heroin addiction he had developed as a result.

The boy had pleaded guilty to a number of theft, begging, drunk and disorderly and criminal damage offences dating from January 2003 until February this year.

In mitigation defence Counsel Ms Fiona Pekaar BL, outlined how the teenager left school when he was aged 13, then had lived a vagrant lifestyle and developed an addiction to heroin after he had severed his ties with his parents.

"He has had a long and convoluted history and has been involved with health boards and social workers," she submitted..

"When he was 13 his parents were alcoholics to such an extent that he left home and lived on the streets until June 2001. Then he came to the attention of social services and was placed in the Ballydowd Special Care Unit where he did training in carpentry and mechanics."

He was then placed on a training programme in Cork but that arrangement broke down because he missed his brother and sister and decided to return to Dublin against the advice of care workers, Ms Pekaar explained.

After his return to Dublin he lived briefly with his grandmother but started abusing heroin in November 2002.

At this stage his father started to come in and out of his life again causing more conflict for the boy, who now no longer has any contact with his parents due to their alcoholism and his desire to change his own lifestyle.

He then left his grandmother’s home and returned to the streets where it was difficult for social workers to track him down to offer him help, Ms Pekaar said.

He then started abusing heroin and this, coupled with a drinking problem, meant he repeatedly came to garda attention.

Social workers still had trouble in trying to help him because he lived on the streets and his addictions were not dealt with in any conclusive way, counsel said.

From January 2003 until present he had been living in hostels interspersed with long periods on the streets, his heroin addiction continued to be a serious problem causing him to continually come to garda attention.

During that time he was placed in a hostel run by social services where care workers found him to be a pleasant young man with no malicious intentions.

In recent months his efforts to give up drugs have not been successful and the boy had come to court expecting a custodial sentence.

Despite not having any contact with his parents, the boy still maintains a strong and caring relationship with his siblings and his elderly grandmother whom he hopes to look after once he is released.

Ms Pekaar also asked the court to recommend that while in custody the boy should get onto a drug treatment programme. She said the boy wants to use his time in custody to "get clean" and when he is released hopes to resume training and learn skills so "he can fit into the structures of society."

Judge Angela Ni Chonduin ordered that the teenager should receive help for his addiction while in custody in St Patrick’s Institution and that after his release he would be kept under the supervision of the Probation and Welfare Service for the next two years.