Nine months for boy with 48 convictions

A 16-year-old repeat offender has been given a nine-month sentence on his 48th criminal conviction.

The boy pleaded guilty at the Dublin Children’s Court today to unlawfully interfering with the mechanism of a car and criminally damaging it, on Ballyboden, in south Dublin, on December 12 last year.

The teenager, who has an address in south Dublin, also admitted theft of €120 from a shop in Dun Laoghaire, on April 16 last.

Garda Maureen Byrne of Rathfarnham station told Judge Bryan Smyth that she came across the boy sitting in a car on the Ballyboden Road. He was tampering with the car’s cowling and ignition. Following a brief foot chase he was apprehended and when arrested he gave gardaí a false name.

Garda Francis Howlin said in evidence that the boy stole €120 from a Centra Shop in Dun Laoghaire. He agreed that the theft was opportunistic with the boy taking the money when the shop’s till was open, no violence was used.

Judge Smyth heard that boy, who was not supported in court by any of his family, had 45 previous convictions on his criminal record. Most recently he was given a sentence in Naas, for criminal damage and possession of knives as offensive weapons. Also last year he had been convicted of two burglary offences and one car theft.

Defence solicitor Margaret MacEvilly said the boy accepted his guilty and understood he was at risk of receiving a sentence. “He is a young man that has spent a lot of time in custody and has been in a number of different institutions and missed a huge amount of schooling,” she said.

The boy had also developed drug and alcohol addiction problems the court was told.

Judge Smyth imposed a nine month detention sentence which is to be served in St Patrick’s Institution.

However the sentence today did not finalise all prosecutions against the youngster as he is facing more charges next month.