Boy, 17, awaits sentence for crime spree

A Balbriggan teenager will be sentenced next week for a crime spree which included violently robbing an elderly man, mugging several train commuters and breaking a girl's collarbone and a garda's nose.

The 17-year-old youth who cannot be named for legal reasons and an accomplice broke into a 78-year-man's home and when they learned he didn't have any money the accomplice hit him with a hammer before they ransacked the house.

He also told a 19-year-old girl to “shut the fuck up” when she fell and broke her collarbone after he chased her before tearing her iPod from around her neck and fleeing with his accomplice.

Sergeant David Campbell told prosecuting counsel, Ms Geraldine Small BL, that the youth also robbed “iPods” and cash from train commuters and assaulted a group of Austrian tourists.

Sgt Campbell said the teenager and his accomplice were drinking cans of beer on the Dublin-Balbriggan train on May 5 2007 when they invited the girl to come to Balbriggan Beach with them.

She ran off when the pair demanded her belongings but the teenager chased her down and pushed her over, breaking her collar bone.

He was taken into custody in Balbriggan and when Gda Vincent Healy went to his cell to wake him up to meet his father he suddenly head butted the garda and broke his nose before punching him three times.

Sgt Campbell said that when he was restrained, gardaí felt it was unsafe to attempt to interview him and he was left in his cell. Gda Healy suffered from broken teeth and lacerations as well as the broken nose.

A group of Austrian tourists were on the train back to Dublin on September 23, 2007 after visiting Newgrange when the teenager and an accomplice approached them and told them to empty their pockets.

Sgt Campbell said that when they refused the boy's accomplice punched one of the group. One of the tourists hit him back but was beaten up by the two youths who then took his “iPod” and €270.

The two thugs were arrested shortly after they alighted, having been identified on CCTV footage.

Sgt Campbell said that on October 30, 2007 the boy was again on the train at Balbriggan when he grabbed a ladies handbag and ran off. The handbag contained an “iPod”, a “Blackberry” phone and cash.

That night an 18-year-old youth was with his girlfriend outside St Teresa's School in Balbriggan when the boy asked him for a lighter but then punched him and pushed him over before taking his phone. He also searched his pockets before fleeing.

Sgt Campbell said that at 2am the following morning, 79-year-old Paddy Blanch heard a bang as he slept in his home on Clonard Street before being confronted in his bedroom by the youth and an accomplice who threatened they would kill him if he didn't give them money.

They demanded his ATM card and when the elderly man said he didn't have one, the accomplice hit him across the head with a hammer which Sgt Campbell said he believed was taken from a train where it was intended for use to break windows in an emergency.

Sgt Campbell said the thugs “pulled the house apart” before they fled because they thought gardaí were on the way. CCTV footage caught them earlier that day breaking a local florist's window with the hammer.

Sgt Campbell told defence counsel, Mr Luigi Rea BL, the youth admitted his guilt after his arrest for each offence and said he was sorry. The sergeant said it was usual for him to offer the excuse that he was “off his head” on drink and drugs.

He said he had 15 previous convictions including burglary, threatening behaviour and escape from custody.