Mugging teen remanded in custody

A 15-year-old boy who took part in a violent gang mugging of a French student has been remanded in custody.

He had pleaded guilty earlier at the Dublin Children’s Court to the robbery of the French student in Dublin city centre on May 27 last year.

The court had heard that the teen defendant had learning difficulties and had the lesser role in the offence.

He had volunteered to take up the place in a special residential school where he could have stayed for up to two years.

In June the court released him on bail on condition that he remained in the school and abided by its rules.

However after his case review he was remanded in custody to a detention centre after Judge Bridget Reilly heard that the placement in the special residential school had broken down due to his absconding.

The south Dublin boy and two friends mugged the student who was forced to reveal his credit card PIN number, the Children’s Court had heard.

“They said we’ll stab you if this is the wrong PIN” at which he gave them the correct number,” Garda Paul Murphy, of Pearse Street Station, had said in evidence earlier.