Mother in fear of life from teen son, court hears

A teenage boy, charged with domestic violence against his sick mother, was remanded in custody, by Judge Thomas Fitzpatrick, at the Dublin Children’s Court.

The court heard two conflicting accounts from the boy and his mother relating to his having broken bail conditions forbidding him from returning home, arising out of charges of domestic violence.

The 17-year-old has been charged with assaulting his mother, theft of her social welfare card and criminal damage to her medication. He has denied the charges and will face a hearing next month.

The court also heard that there was an objection to continued bail because the boy had returned to his mother’s home. Earlier he had been given bail on condition that he did not return to his family home.

His upset mother, who is undergoing treatment for health problems, told the court that her son had stabbed her and said that she was in fear for her life.

Pleading with the judge to have her son held in custody, she called the teenager a "compulsive liar" and repeatedly said she was scared of him and feared for her safety.

Her son had broken into her home after his last court appearance, she claimed, and had also been living with his girlfriend’s family, who, she alleged, were drug users and had introduced him to cocaine.

She also said this family had verbally abused her and degraded her in her neighbourhood.

The woman also said that she is in ill health and that social workers had told her that she was in danger. "Please put him in custody, I’m really in fear for my life," she said.

In evidence the teenager agreed that he had returned home, however he said that he had come home at his mother’s request, and denied breaking into the house.

He also told Judge Fitzpatrick that he was due to start a job shortly and that he would be able to rent a flat of his own.

He also accused his mother of using drugs.

Judge Fitzpatrick said that he was satisfied that the teenager had been in breach of his bail and remanded the teenager in custody to St Patrick’s Institution.