Teenager remanded after attacks on elderly women

A 14-year-old girl, who has left two elderly women traumatised and terrified in their own homes after she violently forced her way past their front doors, has been remanded in custody.

The Dublin Children’s Court heard that the girl, originally from Romania, was aged 13 when she committed the two burglaries, in Dun Laoghaire, on November 27 last year.

The girl, who has been living with her family in Ireland since 1999 and has never gone to school, had pleaded guilty to the offences which have left her victims, who are aged 80 and 63, terrified.

The 63-year-old woman is nervous in her own home, checks the property six times each night before going to bed fearing a further home invasion and has lost her trust in people.

Meanwhile, the older woman will not go out of her home, not even to do tend to her gardening which had been one of her main pastimes, Judge Angela Ní Chonduin heard. She is also on medication and regularly sees a doctor as a result of the ordeal.

Garda Mark Russell of Dun Laoghaire station, told the court that the 14-year-old girl arrived at the house of the 63-year-old woman. The woman opened the door to find girl on her knees begging on her step.

The woman gave the girl €1.50 at which she then asked for a plaster. The woman went back inside and through the doorway she handed out the plaster. The teenager then asked the woman to put it on her finger.

She then started pushing the door as the elderly woman tried to force it shut. Another person with the defendant, a girl believed to be aged 11, helped in trying to keep the door open. She also put her foot in the doorway to prevent the woman from closing the door.

Meanwhile the 14-year-old girl was pressing her shoulder against the door in an effort to overpower the woman.

Eventually, the elderly woman managed to close the door and called the gardaí.

“This has had a huge effect on her. She does not trust people any more. Every night she checks everything six or seven times before going to bed and she is very jumpy,” garda Russell said.

Garda Declan Hartley said the girl then went to a neighbouring house where an 80-year-old woman resided. This woman opened her front door to find the girl on the ground saying: “Please, my sore finger” and she then started to “inch her way in the door”.

The girl forced her way into the house and pushed the woman into her sitting room where they tried to take her handbag. The woman had a panic button which she used to alert the gardaí at which the girl and her accomplice left.

“The injured party is struggling to cope. She is on medication and regularly visits the doctor and is afraid to leave her home. She was a keen gardener but rarely goes to her garden anymore,” said Garda Hartley.

Judge Ní Chonduin remanded the girl in custody for a probation report to be furnished to the court.

The girl’s mother had to be taken out of the court after she started screaming when the judge ordered custody for her daughter.