Boy, 17, guilty of wrecking cars with industrial paint

AN unemployed 17-year-old boy, who owns a ’06 jeep and got free legal aid, today refused to pay €5,215 compensation after he was found guilty of wrecking three cars with industrial paint.

The teenager had been found guilty at his Dublin Children’s Court hearing for criminally damaging the cars by pouring industrial paint over them, at Castlecurragh Heath, in Mulhuddart, Dublin, in the early hours of February 2 last. The north Dublin boy had denied the allegations.

Garda Orla Faughnan of Blanchardstown station told Judge Aeneus McCarthy that she “saw two youths wearing dark clothes with large tins of paint. They were pouring the paint over cars.”

The pair ran to a jeep which was parked nearby with its engine running. Garda Faughnan and her colleague Garda Kevin Flatley also said they saw the teen drive off at speed. They noted the vehicle’s number plate and radioed other garda units to watch for it.

A short time later a detective stopped the jeep on the Tolka Valley Road. The occupants were wearing light coloured clothing. However, large tins of paint and dark clothing were found in the vehicle.

One of the victims said his car had to be re-sprayed while another said the industrial paint had gone into her car’s engine and caused further damage.

Judge McCarthy said €5,215 worth of damages had been caused to the cars. “Does he want to pay for the damage or does he want to go prison? That is the choice.”

The out of school teen who was accompanied to court by his mother shook his head and said “I don’t have any money.” The boy’s counsel said the teen came from “a family with extremely limited means and his mother is on social welfare.”

However, Judge McCarthy was informed by the prosecution that the teenage defendant, who is also about to become a father, was the registered owner of a 2006 Mitsubishi jeep.

The defence counsel said the boy could end up being worse off if he was sentenced to St Patrick’s Institution. But Judge McCarthy replied that “Society may come out better since he would not be able to commit crimes.”

He said that he was obliged to seek a Probation Service report prior to sentencing and remanded the teen on bail to appear again in August having indicated that three consecutive six month terms could be imposed.