Teen held after threatening sister with gun

A 16-year-old boy was remanded in custody today after a court heard allegations that he threatened his sister with a gun.

The boy was charged at the Children’s Court with threatening to kill or cause serious harm to his sister who is in her 20s at their grandmother’s home in north Dublin, on Wednesday, October 1 last.

The court was told that the teenager had already been subject to a bail condition refraining him from being in contact with his sister. This was imposed in relation to a charge brought against him earlier for assaulting her.

Gardaí said they were seeking to have him remanded in custody.

Giving evidence, the young woman wept in the witness box as she told Judge Bryan Smyth that she was in fear of her brother. She alleged that she had been at her grandmother’s when her brother arrived. There was an altercation with him and she left the house.

She told the court she saw him “pointing a gun out the window” at her which she described as “long” and “pointed.”

During the case the boy interjected and said “you know it was a toy gun.”

She also claimed that other members of the family had tried to convince her to drop the assault complaint she had made earlier.

The boy’s mother gave evidence claiming that her son had medical problems which may have triggered her son’s temper. But she added that she felt he was not a threat to her daughter.

She said her daughter antagonised her son, “she’ll provoke him.” “She’s very mouthy,” the mother claimed.

The boy said he had a plastic pellet gun, not the kind of weapon his sister had described, which he claimed he later discarded.

Gardaí objected to bail over concerns for the woman’s safety.

Judge Smyth remanded the teenager in custody for one week and ordered that he was to receive medical treatment.