Teenager drops complaints against brother

A young woman told a court today that she was not going to proceed with a complaint against her teenage brother, whom she had alleged threatened her with a gun.

"At the end of the day, he's my brother," she told Judge Bryan Smyth at the Dublin Children's Court.

The boy (aged 17) had been remanded in custody last week after he was charged with threatening to kill or cause serious harm to his sister, who is in her late teens, at their grandmother's home in north Dublin, on Wednesday, October 1 last.

At the time, the teenager had already been subject to a bail condition banning him from contact with his sister arising from an assault charge brought against him earlier.

Last week, the woman wept in the witness box as she told Judge Bryan Smyth that she was in fear of her brother. She said she had been at her grandmother's when her brother arrived. An altercation ensued and she left the house.

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

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

In a sustained objection to bail, garda Kieran Coughlan, Ballymun station, said that the boy was facing serious allegations in relation to threats to kill.

The woman gave evidence again today saying that she was "calmer now" and that she no longer felt that her brother was a threat because he would be supervised by her parents.

When questioned by the garda the woman, who has a different address to her brother, said she had not been intimidated by anyone since she gave evidence last week.

She also said that she no longer intended to proceed with her complaint. "At the end of the day, he's my brother," she also said.

She also told Judge Smyth that she knew the boy was going to seek help for his problems. Last week, the boy's mother had told the court that her son had medical problems which could have triggered his temper.

Judge Smyth granted bail with the boy's mother acting as a €1,000 independent surety. He remanded the teen to appear again next month pending directions from the DPP.

Seven bail conditions were imposed on the teenager, who spoke once during the case today, saying "yeah" when asked if he understood that, by breaching them, he would be remanded back into custody.

He was ordered to have no contact with his sister, stay away from her residence, reside at his mother's home, in north Dublin, sign on three times a week at his local garda station, obey a curfew between 10pm and 7am, remain sober and be of good behaviour.

Last week the teenager's mother had said that her daughter antagonised her son, "she'll provoke him. She's very mouthy," the mother claimed.

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