Teen faces 15 months detention for 50 crimes

A 16-year-old boy’s crime spree ended today when he was detained for 15 months for 50 crimes committed over two and a half years.

Judge William Early had given the out-of-school teenage father of one a chance to find a training course and to co-operate with the probation services and had warned him that failure to do so would result in a custodial sentence.

At the boy’s sentence hearing in the Children’s Court today, Judge Early noted that the boy had missed all six of his scheduled appointments with his probation officer.

Defence solicitor Mr John Quinn said that the boy from Ballymun had instructed him to ask the court for a final opportunity to show that he could change.

However refusing to adjourn the case further, Judge Early proceeded to detain the boy.

“It was made clear to him in July that 15 months detention would be imposed if he did not co-operate with the probation services,” said Judge Early.

The boy remained silent during most of the hearing but shifted awkwardly on his seat when it became clear that he was not going to be leaving court yesterday.

He had no family in court to support him.

At an earlier appearance the father did not accompany his son to court because he had opted to stay in bed instead.

The unemployed teen offender who had been described by the judge as having “devoted his intelligence to crime” had pleaded guilty to 50 charges for theft, assault, motoring and public order offences, which started in early 2002.

Over the years he had failed to meet with probation workers and delayed the finalisation of his case, which has pushed him into a new detention category, meaning he could now be held in St Patrick’s Institution.

The boy had lived with both his parents and siblings but had dropped out of education after his second year in secondary school.

In one of the offences, which occurred last year, the teenager snatched €3,500 from a kiosk in the Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre. None of that money has been recovered.

“The probation reports indicates that you are a clever young man but it seems that you have your intelligence devoted to the commission of crime,” Judge Early had told the boy in July when he had given his last chance to mend his ways.

Judge Early today ordered that he should be detained in St Patrick’s Institution for the 15 months he had previously indicated and he was banned from driving for five years.